Stupid laws and Just like me
by Ranekaera
Summary: My take on the marriage law thingy, I recently got hooked on them.A selfinsertedSnape marriage law, please R&R!Snape reacts badly at first, but then meets the new teacher in school... CHAPTER 19 IS UP FINALLY! A PLOT TWIST!
1. The last straw

Hey, I just got into the whole Marriage law challenge thing, so I decided to make a story of my own! I wasn't sure which to do, however, DracoHermione, SnapeHermione or HagridMcGonagall. Eventually I decided on none of them!! I decided to write my very first self-inserted fic, with the main character being just like me, except we shall call her Ran. Yes, for tyhose who noticed, I borrowed the namer Halliwell from Charmed, and must therefor proclaim my DISCLAIMER: i DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR CHARMED IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, ALTHOUGH I WISH I DID. Ran is Nordic, for Sea Goddess.

Please review, flames welcome!

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Severus Snape put down his newspaper angrily, hardly daring to believe the Minstry's latest harebrained scam. A marriage law?! How dare they?

He was sitting at the staff table in the Great Hall on a lovely Saturday, and sat glaring mutinously at his water goblet, as if wishing it a very painfull death. First McGonagall walks into his office, uninvited, and announces the imminent arrival of a new staff member within the next day and a half, and that he would probably be working along side him in a seperate classroom; now _this_. He had to get married and find a wife in a matter of weeks or they would send him to Azkaban for disobedience. He had always thought the Minuistry a bunch of brainless morons, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back, in his opinion. He absolutely would not do it.

Just then, a second owl stopped by and he snatched the plain whhite envelope and openend it. It bore the Ministry seal.

_Dear Severus Snape,_

_We decided to send this letter along after your newspaper, as I didn't believe you would take the new law seriously. I beg to remind you that noncomplience will result in sentencing to Azkaban, or a very heavy fine. As you know, the defeat of the Darkes twizard of all time has also depleted our numbers as well, and children just aren't being born fast enough._

_You have a month. Good luck, and best wishes,_

_Roary Buckler, Marriage and Wizarding Law Attourney_

Attourneys; they were the same in both worlds, he thought bitterly, scrunching the letter up in one large, bony white fist.

His dark eyes scanned the children in the Hall and came to rest on the front doors as they began to slowly open. A short, slim, dark figure slowly revealed itself, wearing heavy, billowing black robes, a slightly droopy black hat that covered his or her eyes and a pair of lethal looking black leeather boots with silver skull and crossbones buckles on them. The Hall slowly fell silent, and the figure walked into the Hall as if nothing were the matter. Severus, himself, was vaguely interested to know who this newcomer was, then remembered McGonagall's earlier warning. This must be the newest staff member, who would be taking up the newly instated position of Explosives and Chemical Weapons. It was an odd choice, one that a lot of the school boards thought was unneccesary, but then Snape remembered all the times in his Potions class when one student or another had neglected to remember the explosive properties of one or more ingredients, and thought it wise.

As the figure approached, they lifted their head and Snape was surprised to see a pale, heart-shaped face, very large, light-colored eyes with long lashes, full, perfect lips and a cold, uncaring look about her person. She was very beautiful, in a cute sort of way, and he berated himself for thinking this word. She looked hardly older than some of the students.

She took the vacant seat two down from Snape himself, swept off her hat and shook out a main of thick, bright copper hair. It was even brighter than the Weasley's, and then noted that it was because one side of her head was done in a bright splash of violent raspberry.

_She must be a Metamorphmagus,_ he thought nonchalantly, picking up his fork and spearing a bit of scrambled egg.

He ate slowly, eyes scanning the Hall for Potter and his friends, and noticed that Potter and the femal Weasley were not there. He figured they were out strolling the grounds and almost rolled his eyes at the thought. Potter, who looked so like his disgusting father, fancied a redhead just like his mother, but so much less atractive, in his opinion. He wondered if the muggle borns in the Hall knew of the newly instated law, then noticed by Hermione Granger's expression in particular, that they did.

"May I have everyone's attention for a moment, please?" called McGonagall, tapping a fork on the edge of her crystal goblet, and the Hall slowly fell quiet.

"I have an announcement to make. We are instating a brand new class called Explosievs and Chemical Weapons this term, and I expect most O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. students in Potions to sign up immediately, please. Your new teacher's name is Professor Halliwell," she announced clearly, and there was a lot of muttering at this. Only a few student clapped for her.

Halliwell? Could she possibly be realated to the Halliwells of Salem, Ameica? He had heard only vaguely of them in his studies years ago. Supposedly, they were the o nly surviving line of Witches from the original Salem Witch Trial days, and they were an old family of very powerfull witches and wizards, though most of them were very old. He glanced again her way, and saw her examining him just as ardently, and he quickly looked away and resumed eating.

Judging by the way she was glancing around at things like the silverware and the food, he assumed she wasn't from Great Britain.

He was just starting on his bacon when Professor Sinistra handed him a spare bit of parchemnt, on which was scribbled a hastily written note in blood-red ink. The writing was very sloppy and a bit messy, but legible.

_Dear Professor Snape,_

_I have heard all about you, from Professor McGonagall, and she says that I am to be working alongside you, even though Slughorn is the Potions master now. She claimes you were always better, or something. I just wanted to introduce myself properly, since we are to be working together somewhat._

_My name is Ran Hallliwell, and yes, as you correctly assume, I am descended from the Halliwells of Salem, Mass., although I am muggle-born. I'm afraid we don't get along much these past few decades, however, so I would appreciate it if you would keep it quite because I don't want to be answering any awkward questions._

_Look forward to working with you, whichever class you may teach,_

_Ranikara J. Halliwell_

He read and re read the note a few times before setting fire to it with a candle floating nearby, and looking down, he saw that Miss. Halliwell was eating, head bowed, hair hiding her face behind a sheer curtan of coppery-orange curls.

He decided then that his free time couldn't come soon enough. He needed time to think.

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Well, what do you think?? More detailed than my previous HP fics? Please review and tell me what you think!


	2. Thoughts and rumors

Hey, second chapter! Snape's POV

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Over the next day and a half, all he heard were rumors about the new teacher, and not only what he heard students talking about, how she had altered her new classroom and office. Apparently, she had a great liking for skulls and chains, black and, most peculiarly of all, in his opinion, hard rock music.

He couldn't resist taking a stroll himself. He made his way down the familiar winding passageways, towards his old classroom, bypassed it and knocked on a wooden door a few yards down from it.

"Enter," called a deep voice, and he gently pushed the door open and almost gasped.

What used to be an unused classroom in gray stone covered in mold was now unrecognizeable.

She was a very gifted witch, for a muggle born, was his first impressioon. She had enchanted the walls to make them black stone, and had enchanted the floor as well, to resemble a grassy forest floor reminiscent of Ireland, although thankfully, mowed. Portraits and posters, both moving and non-moving, covered almost everywall from ceiling to floor, and, trying to touch one, discovered they were all protected rather heavily by an amazingly casted Impervius Charm.

He looked towarsds the only noise in the room and felt a pink t inge appear in his sallow cheeks; all he could see of the new teacher at the moment was a, dare he think it, well-rounded rear-end sticking in the air, medium-sized. It wasn't somethign he ever deigned worht noticing, even on the female staff, but it was kind of noticeable, and she straightened up and flipped her long, thick red hair out of her face; it had formed a kind of soft fuzzy cloud around her face, and he recognized the look; it was how Hermione Granger's hair looked whenever she was making a particularly humid potion.

"Professor!" she said quietly, a little surprised. She was holding stacks of papers under her arms and a box was wedged against one shapely hip. She had taken off her outer robe and he was rather surprised at what she wore underneath. A black, long-sleeved shirt with fake buckled straps down the arms, a studded belt with a large silver sull and crossbones buckle, and very loose-fitting muggle trousers, also black, with red seams and neon skulls at the lower pockets. He had just never noticed how eccentric she was at first glance.

She noticed him taking in her eccentric appearance, and smiled. He also couldn't help but notice that the effect it made made her look a few years older than he had at first thought, but still at least 20 years younger than himself. Even at 37, he was the same snarky potions professor. He planned to try and keep it that way.

"I had heard rumors, about our newest addition and merely came down here to see if they were true. A teacher wouldn't want to desiplay some things-", he looked over at a hanging plastic skeleton, covered in fake blood and shrouded by a gray shawl,"- would be better off not seen by older teachers. They may take it as a bad sign, especially in light of recent events," he said quietly.

"Of course," she said, and she drew out an odd-looking silver wand and flicked it at the bloody skeleton. It detached itself from the wall and flew through the open door of her office and out of sight.

What was he thinking?! He gave himself a mental slap in the face and thought again of the idiotic marriage law forced on everyone buy the ministry. He doubted she even knew.

"I know. It applies to me too," she said, startling him out of his reverie, and he was almost embarassed. Instead, he was slightly annoyed, and his next comment cleearly showed it.

"We finally have a new teacher who shows apptitude at Occlumency, do we? I would advise you to stay out of other people's minds without permission, Ranikara Halliwell. Good day," and with that, he swept out of her class room, his cloak billowing behind him like an overgrown bat.

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Back in his own room, he fumed at his desk.

He hadn't been with a woman since his Death Eater days. Granted, with his work as a triple agent, and his teaching job, there had been less than little time. Now the Dark Lord waws dead at last, and hhis life was free, his own for the first time in a long time, but he just could not seem to grasp that. Every morning, he would wake up drenched in a cold sweat, wondering if it had ever really happened, if Harry Potter, The-Boy-That-Just-Woudn't-Fucking-Die, had really stepped in at the Shrieking Shack and saved his life from the man he had sworn allegiance to long ago. He would find, every morning, that it had been real, and had promptly forgotten these troubling dreams.

He glanced again at the Minstry letter, declaring the stupid law public, and groaned. He had three and a half weeks to find a wife. _Wife_. Even in his mind, he stumbled over the word. It was just so utterly foreign to him.

He stood up and began to pace, his wand in hand, thinking to himself.

He had been humiliated all his life. He had been cleverer, gotten better grades and cared more about his school work than the rest of those in his year at Hogwarts. He knew the intelligence and the sudying was only to compensate for his mediocre looks. He didn't think he looked too bad, himself. Apparently, the female gender thought otherwise, he thought bitterly. Above his head, a jar of pickled eel skin exploded and he repared it with a hasty, inaudible spell and vanished the common ingredient.

He didn't want to go to Azkaban, and he had recently heard that non-compliers were also being sent to America, and that, he absolutely would not do.

He paced long into the night, debating on this new teacher. He would have to wait for the school week to begin again, and then he would pass judgement on her as a teacher. He convinced himself, only as a teacher.

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Ran's POV

Ranikara was nervouS.

She was only 19, experienced, yes, but still and all, 19. She had, of course, heard of the marriage law, and she detested it from the moment she got her very first request. It was signed by an Avery. She didn't know who Avery was, yet, but judging by his atrocious spelling and grammar, he was probably an incredibly stupid student.

That Monday morning, she received two more requests, one a very polite one from a Malfoy, who sounded far too arrogant for her taste, and another from a Mr. Wong. Apparently, he was Chinese, and she tossed all three requests of marriage into the fire at once, the eytes of the Great Hall upon her.

She remember the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Snape, and began day dreaming, vague thoughts of a certain letter, and the way his skn contrasted with his irish-shaped eyes and his pale skin... she was snapped out of her dream by a rather sharp voice, and she flinched and looked up into the dark eyes and greasy hair of the man she had been thinking about.

She blushed furiously, dropped her bacon in purpose, and bent down to scoop it up, a mumbled apology on her lips.

"I, unlike others do not snoop unless I have reason to, Miss Halliwell. I wanted to inform you that classes have officially started, and to hand you a roster of the students in Professor Slughorn's classes, as well as mine. You see, I have recently agreed to take the first through third years for Potions, in addition to my Defense classes. I gather we shall be working more than you thought," he said, sneering slightly as he handed her a long scroll of parchemnt, cluttered with names in his peculiar handwriting.

"Thanks," she said flatly, and without smiling, she got up from the able and strode out, her robees billowing almost as much as the old Potions master everyone still hated.

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Snape had only agreed to the first, second and third years because according to Slughorn, he was too old to handle such young children. As if _he_ was, he thought to himself, and he couldn't supress a cold chuckle. The irony of it was crushing.

However, the cold expression on her face as she said thanks, and the indifferent way she walked, made him remember his own uncaring school days, and he shivered and banished the memories fro his mind, skilled Occlumens that he was.

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Please review!!!!!!


	3. Shadow

Hey, this one is a bit shoerter... or longer, it depends on how long my mother lets me type on this before she sets me to work again... I hate house cleaning.

Enjoy!

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Snape decided, the next morning, since he had no classes that early, to shadow one of Miss Halliwells. The headmaster wouldn't mind, he was sure, thinking of McGonagall and the furtive glances she had given him over the staff table the day he discovered the marriage law included him. Let the students and staff think what they wanted, but if it meant going to Azkaban, he would suck it up, as the Americans said, and take it.

He arrived in her dungeon classroom at a quarter of seven and knocked on her office door.

"Come in," she called, and he opened the door and saw her sitting behind her desk, head bowed over a piece of parchment, hair spilling out on the surface top. She had metamorphed it to a brilliant white blonde down to her jawline, in which it blended down to a darker strawberry blonde. She had also put a single thin, brilliantly pink streak near the face. She wore subtly more normal clothes today, a simple blood-red under-robe and her customary black outer robe. He couldn't help but notice that her breasts were quite a bit bigger than her wasitline, and forced himself to look at her face.

"Professor. To what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked silkiily, her eyes half lidded. He guessed she had stayed up all night and was simply tired. Her voice was dep and rich, very sexy, and he again mentally slapped himself and forced himself to ignore his own testosterone to be his usual snarky self.

"I simply wondered if I might sit in on your first class of the day today, Professor Halliwell. I have no classes this early and wondered exactly what your... subject entails," he said quietly, his eyes searching the room. It was slightly smaller than his own office, and the drapes closing off her office from her personal quarters was closed off. The walls bore such radically different pictures from her classroom that he couldn't help but notice.

"May I?" he intoned, gesturing towards all the picture frames.

"Go ahead. Just pictures of friends and I from my muggle school, family and other meaningless junk I've taken pictures of since I've been here," she said, as if it didn't matter.

He saw pictures of herself in what did, indeed look like a muggle high school, her arms around two older boys, one dressed just as eccentric as her, the other dressed in rainbow colors with eyeliner on. They were all smiling cheekily and laughing at the camera. Other pictures were off scenery, mountains, foggy grasslands, pictures of her home town, pictures of what looked like very animal you could ever keep as a pet. They were all magnificently photographed, and he wondered why she taught at a school rather than sell her photos.

"These are impressive. Whom, may I ask, are these two? They appear in a lot of your photos," he said softly, gesturing to the two older boys in the first one he looked at.

"My best friend from America, Nick, is the gay one on the left. My friend Eric is on the left. He's a little freaky," she said, smiling reminicently.

He glanced at the far wall behind her desk and saw a six foot long canvas that looked hand painted, featuring a magnificent, featherd dragon with a blunt shaped head and sapphire blue eyes, in mid flight. It stood still.

"I painted that when I was 17," she said, noticing where his eyes were traveling.

"So Miss Halliwell. What exactly does your class entail?" he asked, immediately changing the subject.

She smiled sneakily, her eyes glinting mischeviously.

"You'll see."

She swept from her office, the fruity spicy smell of flowers brushing against his face. He followed her out and saw that students were slowly starting to arrive, some glancing around in interest, others, in utmost revulsion. Draco Malfoy was among them. All those who had not been present for the seventh year had been allowed to take it over, and Malfoy had apparently chosen to. Still others, Potter and Weasley in particular, shot him suspicious glances at seeing him emerge from their pretty new teacher's office with her. He shot them the most venemous look he could.

"Sit down, sit down," Halliwell called calmly, walking up to the front of the class, in front of what had been a chalk board the previous night. Now, he saw, it had been transformed into a white marker board.

They all settled, and once she saw that all was quiet and Snape himself was seated as far back from the rest of the class as he could get, she resumed her speech.

"Your headmaster, and probably your potiosn teachers as well, decided to take me on to teach you about explosives and ways to prevent them. You weren't told to buy a book on this subject because I brought them myself. Take one and please cover them with something, because they weren't cheap," she said, and she waved her strange, silver colored wand and the stack of books on her desk soared gently onto each student's desk.

"Professor Halliwell? I don't mean to be rude, but exactly what is this class about?" came the familiar drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

"You're... Malfoy, right?" she asked, glancing down at a list on her desk, her long hair falling around her shoulders.

"Right," he sneered.

Secretly, Snape wondered what game Malfoy was playing. Both is parents were in Azkaban and he had no reason to have stayed behind, but it was precisely what he had done.

She ignored him after that and continued to teach.

"You won't be using your books much in this class, because a lot of it is practical. Basically, I'll give you instructiones, you answer questions, I'll give you certain potion ingredients and you'll write me a thesis about what you think they do when combined, and in what order. My job this year is to teach you how to avoice unneccesary explosions, and _why_ they explode, _not_ to teach you chemical warfare," she said warningly, glancing in particular at Malfoy, who smirked at his desk.

So she was a scientist? What on earth were the staff and school board playing at, hiring a chemist to teach at Hogwarts? Privately, however, he thought it explained a lot. She was quite intelligent.

"Are you teaching us chemistry, then? Only, I took that in muggle school," asked another fourth year, raising his hand.

"I'm no chemist, nor am I a scientist... I just have,... experience, shall we say. Actually, I nearly failed chemistry when I was in muggle school," she said, chuckling at the boy's question.

Snaper put his head in his hands. She was really confusing. She had no formal education in this, except potions, but she had experience? In his mind's eye, he saw three muggles playing with the muggle sparklers and mixing dangerous chemicals just to see them explode.

She shot him a calculating look, and turned to the white board, her hair flying, the color of darkened straw against the black of her robes. A minute later, she had waved her wand and the directions and questions had appeared on the board, written in dark blue marker.

The class hastened to follow them and while the students worked, occasionally sneaking helpful answers out of their books, Ranikara Halliwell took the opportunity to stride between the desks to talk to him.

She took a desk near his pulled a copy of the textbook out of her robes, seemingly out of nowhere and began to read.

"How do you have experience with chemicals and explosives?" he asked quietly. She glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I was a trouble maker in school. I was never good at equations, though, so I never made it into advanced chemistry, but I excelled at potions later on when I enrolled in the Salem school. I just took the time on my own to combine my knowledge of chemistry and apply it to my potionmaking," she replied, her eyes boring into his. They were a gray green, with golden haloes around the pupils. They were really quite pretty, he noticed. She went back to her book, her sooty lashes falling softly against her prominent, softly curved cheekbones, her perfectly carved lips partly open as she breathed. He knew in an instant he would have dreams about her as he slept that night.

What was he thinking?!

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That night, as he lay on his bed, pale moonlight filtering shadows over his private quarters, he couldn't help thinking of her. And what he was going to do about that stupid new law. He glanced out the window at the moon, casting it's silvery light over the land, and it reminded him of the peculiar color of her wand. He wondered what it was made of, and where she had gotten it. It certainly seemd to suit her, and the rest of her mysterious, yet unmysterious personality.

He shifted position, his hand under his pillow, his other drqaped across the sheets. He wore only a long, knee-length nightshirt, and he realized he was cold, so he draped his thicker blanket over himself.

He closed his eyes and slept, his dreams uneasy.

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Please R&R!!


	4. Silver Fur, Chimaeras and inquisitions

Hey, I may go on this story for awhile, because I can't think of what to write for my other ones (Blood thicker than water, Lily's decision and Lost memories and lose ends) I will get to it though. Just have patience! I also took the liberty of changing some facts around the Silver Fur tree... I made it sound as if they are more common in Alaska, when in fact you can find them in several other places... just thought the silver fur would look better surrounded by Alaskan snow than grass, is all... I also took liberties with the chimaera acording to mythology and J.K.

Please enjoy!

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Snape got up early the next morning, having not had a lot of restfull sleep. He arrived in the Great Hall while the sun hadn't even risen yet, and he sat there and at the staff table and dozed.

He was just falling asleep when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, shaking him waake. He started, pulling out his wand and shoving it in his attacker's face, but relaxed slightly when he saw that it was an astonished looking Halliwell, eyes wide, mouth frowning slightly.

"Sorry... I didn't know you were asleep," she said, her own wand halfway up to meet his. He lowered it respectfully and pocketed it again. He watched as she lit all the candles around the table with one Incendio spell. He remembered again the color of her wand and decided his curiosity was greater than his desire to be snarky. (A/N: yes, that is my favorite word)

"What kind of wand is that, incidentally?" he asked.

She turned back to him, her eyes wide and curious. She held her wand aloft and handed it to him, by light of the candles around them. He inspected it closer up.

It was a dull silver-brown wood with a smaller handle than most and a single, delicately carved bough of pine needles wound it's way up the shaft. Holding it made him shiver; the wood was cold as ice in his hand.

"The wood is from a Silver Fur tree. I got this wand when I was living in Alaska, I think the tree is native there," she replied.

He handed it back, rubbing the nonexistent frost off his hand to warm it up.

She smiled humourlessly, examining it herself.

"It's warm in my hands. Probably because of the core," she said.

"Which is?" he asked.

"Chimaera hair," she said sheepishly, eyes averted.

"Chimaera? That is one unusual wand, Miss Halliwell," he admitted, suddenly nervous. The hair of the Chimaera was reknowned for its heating properties.

"I know. This was the only wand at the shop with Chimaera hair in it, and the owner was reluctant to let me buy it, but no other wand seemed to like me," she admitted, putting it away.

"You were in Alaska? " he asked, trying to make conversations.

"Yeah. I was born there, and I lived there until I was 5. I bought my wand there at five because I knew what I was and knew I wouldn't get another chance. My family didn't want me to be a witch," she explained.

Snape raised an eyebrow. Little though he wanted to know about the Halliwells of Salem Massachusetts, he couldn't help but be curious.

"My mother is dying, my father ran away when I was a baby, and my brothers and sisters don't like me much... well, my sisters don't anyway. My mother didn't think I should be a witch because she lost her powers a long time ago and none of my siblings are magical at all," she finished.

"So you are the only witch in a family of squibs," he summed up.

"Pretty much, but I like being different," she said brightly, smiling. "What about you? Who do you get your powers from?" she asked, sitting down in the chair next to him.

Snape hesitated. Not because he didn't want her to know, but because he didn't think it was any of her business.

"My mother. She was pureblood," he said simply, and he refused to elaborate.

They both sat there, Snape sipping tea he conjured out of nowhere, she drinking hot chocolate a house elf had brought for her ather request. She told him she didn't know how to conjure out of nowhere yet because she didn't know the princaples involved.

He felt her probing gently through his thoughts, and instead of his thoughts, which he did not want her to see (they were of a personal nature) he provided scenes of England from his childhood for her to see instead. He didn't feel awake enough yet to tell her to butt out.

Fifteen minutes later, when dawn was only just approaching, a house elf appeared out of nowhere and told him that Professor McGonagall wanted to see him in Professor Dumbledore's office. Thinking it strange and frwoning slightly, he vanished his tea and stood up to answer the strange summons.

"Mistress McGonagall wants for you to come also, Miss," said the house elf, bowing low to Professor Halliwell.

She got up to follow the black-haired potions professor.

Snape walked towards the ex Headmaster's office, knowing the newest and youngest teacher was following him at a brisk pace and not caring. He thought he knew what this meeting was about, although why she had to have it at this ungodly hour of the morning was beyond him.

"Let us through, please," he said to the stone gargoyle outside the office.

"Very well," said the ugly talking statue, and the door opened to reveal the never-ending spiral staircase.

He stepped onto the steps, motioned for Halliwell to follow, and the door closed as they slowly revolved their way to the office.

"Professor McGonagall, you called?" he asked quietly and softly as always, nodding at her. She was sitting at Dumbledore's desk and he saw the portrait of said wizard nodding curtly at the young teacher behind Snape.

"I did, and you, Miss Halliwell. It concerns, as you probably know, the new Marriage Law the Ministry just passed," she said curtly. She motioned to the chairs in front of the desk and the two teachers took seats.

"I believe you are muggle born, Miss Halliwell?" she asked Ran. Ran nodded, uncertain as of yet what McGonagall was suggesting, but Snape knew. He knew without a doubt. She was suggesting he marry Ranikara Halliwell before their three and a half weeks were up.

He conjured up a deplorable image of himself in dress robes and she in a wedding gown, although in truth he didn't know what either of them would look like in such clothes, and expected her to see it in his mind. He was not disappointed.

"You want us to get married?" she said, shocked.

"Well, you have three and a half weeks, and so far as I can see, neither of you are making an effort of finding anyone. I hear from some of the students that you two are friendly, or have I heard wrong?" she asked. Thankfully, neither of them answered. Snape was staring stonily at a point of the desk near his knees and Ran was staring out the window.

"Severus, _are_ you trying to find someone?" asked McGonagall earnestly, leaning over teh desk and beseeching him with her eyes. She looked worried for both of them. Clearly, Severus thought, she didn't want either of them to be punished. But the Ministry had gone too far with this law.

"Well... I have... sort of... not really," said Ran nervously, glancing at everything and nothing nervously. Snape tried using Occlumency despite what he told her earlier, but got nothing except a whirlwind of confused pictures and thoughts. Apparently, her normal thought process was faster than normal. He did, however, catch a glimpse of himself sitting next to her at a desk in a classroom.

"I have not," he lied grimly, folding his arms and glaring.

"Severus, really. Do you want to go to Azkaban or be sent to America? Surely, this is easier?" begged McGonagall.

"Easier? _Easier?_ Getting married to a total stranger in three weeks is easier than going to Azkaban? You can't be serious!" he snapped. Then he remembered what he saw every time the dementors got too close and he started to sweat. The urgency of the situation had never hit him so hard.

"So we have to get married?" she demanded, putting emphasis on the word have. She also folded her arms.

McGonagall gave them both significant looks and Snape knew what she meant.

"No," she said simply.

Snape sighed in relief. Sleep with her, he woud think about it. Marry her? Certainly not! It wasn't that she was a muggle-born. It was the fact that she was simply too pretty and too young. She had her whole life ahead of her and with her looks, she could literally have anyone. There was no way she was going to make her spend the rest of her life chained to him. He wwasn't being soft; he was being merciful. He was not an easy man to live with. He knew that.

"But I would advise it unless neither of you find someone within two weeks. There have already been numerous arrests and deportations. I would hate to see either of you suffer that same fate. You may go," she continued. Snape immediately got up to leave, but Ran stayed behind for a bit. As he left, he thought he heard Dumbledore and McGonagall talking with her, but he paid no mind.

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Please review!!!!


	5. Potions class and detention

I'm gonna start this one straight off. Vengeance is indeed sweet!

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Snape strode into his second year potiosn class and immediate silence fell over the babbling students. He had a D.A.D.A class directly after this, then a free period in which he had a lot of papers and potions to grade, so he wasnt in a very good mood after meeting with McGonagall.

"Quiet," he said coldly, although there was no real need.

He flipped all their books open to chapter three in their potions books and said irritably, "follow the instructions on the page and make the potion. You have an hour."

He settled down at his desk and scribbled a note to Ran, against his better judgement. If he was going to make this whole marriage law thing work, and he had to if he didn't want to be thrown unceremoniously in jail, he would have to start trying.

_Dear Miss Halliwell, or Ran if you prefer,_

_I was wondering if you would like to meet me in Hogsmeade next trip, to discuss things of a sensitive nature. Next visit is this weekend. If you are willing, please meet me at the Hogs Head Inn._

_Sincerely,_

_Severus Snape_

Yes, that sounded alright. He had chosen the Hogs Head because it was cheaper. In truth he didn't have any idea what he wanted to talk to her about. He just needed an excuse to get her alone, away from the school and it's students. He didn't know why, but he just enjoyed looking at her.

"Excuse me, sir?" said one of the students. He had walked up to his desk without him noticing and saw a corner of the note, and Snape hurriedly shoved it out of sight and glared at the boy.

"What is it?" he grumbled.

"I need help with my potion, sir..." he mumbled, and Snape saw he was a timid first year.

He looked down at the boy's potion upon getting up and following him to his cauldron and saw, with no surprise, that it was a murky yellow, and bubbling ominously, never a good sign.

"Oh, sh-"

BOOM

The potion exploded, showering everyone within the general vicinity. It hit Snape full in the face, burning his skin instantly, and he hurriedly siphoned the ruined potion off, his face, his robes and his shoes. He didn't know what the boy had done to mess it up so badly, but it appeared to have acidic properties. Halliwell would know.

"Detention, with me, next Monday, and an essay on how and why you went wrong with this potion, Mister Blechly," he siad coldly.

Meanwhile, he had the rest of the class to contend with.

"Anyone who has been splashed, come up to my desk for a Cooling Draft, class dismissed!" he said harshly.

He summoned several bottles of said Drafgt from his office and doused it on the student's affected areas, mostly faces and arms, siphoningh the potion off their robes. It took about ten minutes.

The students all collected their things and left, and Snape sat in silence, enjoying it while he still could before his next class. That Hogsmeade visit couldn't come soon enough.

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	6. Hogsmeade confessions and decisions

Just a little romance in this one... curse the fluff!! Please review!!

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Snape didn't see much of the school's newest Metamorphmagus the rest of the week, although he sent another two students to her classroom for sheer thickheadedness. Before he knew it, the weekend was upon them and it was Saturday. It was also, as he discovered when he stepped outside in nothing but his cothes without his outer robes, very cold. He summoned his outer robes, and his cloak for good measure, from his office and set off for Hogsmeade, ignoring the many students heading in the same direction. He thought he saw a mane of thick purple hair ahead of him, but he couldn't be sure. It may have been the light.

In truth, he was thinking of her... she was on his mind all the time. Her classes weren't bad. She was intelligent and apparently knew what she was doing. Snape didn't think about that, though. Mostly he thought about the Marriage law, and what he was going to do about it, and his meeting with McGonagall. Could he somehow find someone in two weeks?

He entered Hogsmeade and headed directly to the Hogs Head Inn.

Upon entering the shabby pub, he saw Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother, wiping a counter with a dirty stained rag and he approached the counter and requested two butterbeers. Paying for them, he chose a table well away from the windows and sat broodingly, waiting for the female teacher he had invited there. All the while, he thought of what to talk about...Well, there was the obvious...

The door opened again, and Professor Halliwell walked in, her hair a shocking shade of purple, a thick black stripe outlining either side of her pretty face. Her lips had been painted black today and she wore simple black eyeliner. It gave her a rather cute, gothic look. (A/N: I just can't help imaging her as a chibi!!!!! )

"Severus," she said in greeting. She sat oppposite him and he nudged the second butterbeer at her.

"Ran," he replied.

"You wanted to talk about something?" she asked, taking a sip of the butterbeer and grimacing slightly. He supposed she wasn't a big drinker, even for weaker stuff like butterbeer. It was the only alcohol he ever drank, himself. He would not become like his worthless drunk father.

"I did. Have you thought any more about this marriage law, and what McGonagall talked to you about during the week?" he asked quietly.

Ran didn't answer for a while, but then lowered her eyes and mumbled something, her cheeks turning faintly pink.

"Yes. She also told me something after you left, and I remember that too," she said again a little louder, so he could hear.

Snape raised an eyebrow. McGonagall told you something, about me?" he guessed. What could she have had to say about him while he was not present?

"She said you... liked me," she said, hastily sipping her drink and refusing to meet his eyes. He got the feeling she was faintly embarassed... or was she just shy? That was ridiculous! A beautiful witch like her, shy about men??

"Did she now?" he intoned calmly, seemingly unperturbed, sipping his own drink. He finished it with a few gulps and got up to take it back to the bar, leaving her to think.

When he returned to the table, she finally met his eyes and smiled, and in that moment, he decided to hell with it. He would let the other teachers and the students think what they liked. He wanted to petition for Ranikara Halliwells' hand in marriage. It wwasn't something he had planned since the eventual death of Lord Voldemort. In truth, he had never wanted to get married. But now, seeing this Halliwell witch... he was lost. For the first time in his life, he felt lopsided and topsy turvey, at a loss and out of control of his own thoughts. She was talented. She was intelligent.She was Dark, about that he had no doubt.

He leaned over the table and looked straight into her eyes.

"She was quite right, Miss Halliwell," he said, and he got up and left without a word to her, leaving her to try and sort the meaning of his mysterious comment.


	7. Loose Death Eaters

Ok, this chapter has a twist to it... Severus asks Ran to marry him, and someone unexpected comes calling... Just read and review, please enjoy!

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Snape walked up the high street of Hogsmeade, intending to go back up to the school, when rough hands grabbed handfulls of h is robes and yanked him none too gently behind a pub.

He made to cry out, but the same rough hands covered his mouth.

He struggled to get to his wand, pulled it out and aimed over his shoulder, muttering a jinx under his breath and the person let him go with a strangled yell. He had glued his attacker's tongue to the roof of his mouth.

He spun around, his face livid, panting with the adrenaline rush, and saw with some surprise who it was.

"Mulciber!" he snarled, brandishing his wand.

He was wearing his death eater mask and brandishing, not a wand, but a vicious looking battle ax.

"Snape, I've been looking for you. Are you still loyal to the Dark Lord's cause?" he growled.

Snape straightened his dishevelled robes out, shook his hair out of his face and lowered his wand, but only slightly. He had never trusted Mulciber since a jinx at the Battle of Hogwarts had nearly severed his arm. The man didn't want to kill muggle-borns; he wanted to kill everyone.

He had to choose hs answer very carefully. He had absolutely no obligation anymore, but one could never be sure...

"No. I never was and I never will be," he lied.

Mulciber cackled.

"I know you, Snapey, you used ta be. What made ya change yer mind?" he growled.

"My name is _Snape_. Not _Snapey. _And After what you almost did at the battle, what makes you think I still trust you?" he countered, avoiding his question on purpose. It was none of his business why he had changed his mind. Lily's face swam to the forefront, and he shoved it back. What replaced it was that of Ran Halliwell's. Mulciber wasn't a very good Occlumens, but he could get a ghost of what he was thinking.

"You heard 'bout the new law the Ministry has passed?" he changed the subject.

"I have. I take it you have been forced, as I have, to find a muggle-born bride?" he said smoothly.

"Ar, I have. What about you?" he asked.

"I have as well. A powerfull, intelligent witch," he replied waspishly.

"Gonna have fun with her after, huh? I know I am..." he said sneakily, and Snape knew by his tone that whatever he was planning, his bride wasn't going to like it.

"I plan to go along with the Ministry. Not only have a lot of the wizarding population died at the Dark Lord's hands, but the Ministry is quite right about the pureblood line. There have been far too many stillborns, squibs and other side affects. I suggest you do as you're told, Mulciber. I have nothing more to say to you," he said flatly.

He turned on his heel to go, ran into someone, and Mulciber pulled him back. He looked at Mulciber, than at the person he had knocked down. It was Ran.

He helped her to her feet and brished her shoulder off, muttering a hasty apology.

"It's ok, Severus," she said. Snape blinked. It was the first time she had used his first name, and he liked the sound of it on her lips. She wiped herself off, straightened her robes and saw Mulciber.

"Aah, is this your pretty Mudblood?" he sneered, and Snape raised his wand before Ran could get to hers.

"Please do not use that word around me," he said dangerously.

"It's alright, I've heard worse. It doesn't bother me," said Ran from behind him, her own wand pointed at him, her stance that of one holding a sword. She glared at Mulciber, and he threw off his mask. Ran made a disgusted noise from behind him and Snape didn't blame her. Mulciber's face was hideously burned, scarred and twisted from what looked like a Dark curse.

"He looked better with the mask on," she said sarcastically, and Mulciber said,"why, you little..." He raised his axe high, a curse on his lips, and Ran reacted with the speed of an expert, swiping her wand at him in a vicious arc, causing him to be blown backwards, a misty blue bubble surrounding her. Snape tried touching her shoulder; his hand bounced off the bubble and would not penetrate. She had taken the Protego spell and modified it to make it more powerfull.

Needless to say, he was more than impressed. She had made her defensive spell offensive as well, and powered up both by five. He was never more intimidated by a woman than he was by her. She was powerful.

"I'm no Mudblood," she said coldly, still glaring at the fallen Mulciber, and he stood up and

growled at her like a wild dog.

"Then who are you? We could use a powerfull one like you with the Death Eaters," he said tauntingly.

"I'm a pureblood. My name is Ranikara Halliwell. I come from a strong line of pureblood witches and wizards, but that doesn't mean I have to be a jerk," she said even more coldly, her voice like liquid ice.

"I'd leave if I were you, Mulciber," said Snape just as coldly, pointing his own wand at him. Faced with two armed warlocks holding wands, Mulciber swore at them and retreated into the shadows.

Snape lowered his wand and turned to his colleague.

She lowered his as well and the bubble surrounding her vanished.

"Thank you," she said.

"You have no one to thabnk but yourself, Miss Halliwell. Incidentally, where did you learn that protective spell?" he asked lightly, tucking his wand back into his robes.

She shrugged, pocketing her own wand.

"I made it up. I used Protego, but I imagined him on his back and me totally protected. I dunno why I'm so strong... I guess I'm just opinionated," she joked, smiling, and Snape felt hs heart go out to her as it had with Lily so long ago. He had to get away from here.

"I'll see you at the school, Professor Halliwell," he said curtly, and he bowed slightly and stalked off, leaving her, once again, alone in the snow.

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Snape met with McGonagall the moment he got back up to the castle. He went straight to the staff room and hailed her from over by the window.

"Severus," she said, faintly surprised. She took a seat at one of the tables and Severus joined her.

"I've decided to petition for Ran Halliwell before one of the known death eaters does," he said right off the bat. Professor Flitwick, who was nearby, clapped his hands loudly and said, "oh, bravo, Severus!"

"Well, Severus, that's very noble of you. What made you change your mind?" she asked.

"I met a Death Eaater in Hogsmeade. Mulciber. He made threatening gestures to her and I think they're rallying to marry muggle-borns to torture them," he said immediately.

McGonagall didn't look shocked.

"Very well, then. Write your petition and send it to the Ministry before someone else does, Severus. I wish you all the luck in the world," she said promptly, and she handed him a piece of parchment and her own quill for him to use.

He sat down, his stomach already in butterflies, and began to write.

_Dear Minister,_

_I, Professor Severus Tobias Snape, hereby ask for the hand of Miss Ranikara Halliwell in marriage, according to the Marriage Law passed by the Ministry. _

_Severus Snape, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

He folded it up, stamped it with the Hopgwarts Seal and tucked it into his robes.

"Better send it now, Severus. I hear she's very popular among the students of Slytherin," hinted McGonagall, and he didn't need to be told twice. No death eater was going to torture the most talented, intelligent, beautiful witch he had ever known.

He hurried to his office, and his pet raven.

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It was sent. He slumped against his desk, suddenly weak at the knees for some reason, and he sat down, his head in his hands, fingers through his hair. He was not a helpless man, by and large, but sitting there at his desk in the gloom, thinking of what marriage was, he had never felt so helpless and weak.

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	8. Weekend band practice

Hey, this is just a little something I thought would be cool... heeheehee, please review!!!

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It was the day after Severus sent his petition, and he was a bit nervous as to what her reaction would be. Judging by the posters on the walls of her office and her classroom, she was a free spirit and enjoyed "wandering" as she put it, and was therefor not one to be married and chained down.

It was a weekend and Severus was enjoying a walk down by the black lake, deep in thought about Lily Evans and what they did to each other, the events that led to her disowning him, his use of that filthy word, the biggest mistake of his life. Now he was going to marry another, who was so like Lily in so many ways. Cheeky, intelligent, funny, sarcastic, muggle-born and beautiful. She had a deeper pain and hatred of the world beneath her facade, he knew by looking in her eyes whenever he brought up the subject of her past. He had never pushed its boundaries.

He came between two trees and looked at a scarring mark made with his wand many eayrs ago, in the days of James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Lily Evans, and traced a finger around it, sadness enveloping him against his will. What had he done?

He forced himself to look away from the carved heart and the roughly carved initials and he spotted a flash of something red. Intrigued, he peered through the trees to his left and an unbelievable sight met his eyes.

There in a clearing, surrounded by what he recognized as an Imperturbable Charm, stood Ranikara Halliwell, his (hopefully) betrothed, dark red hair flying, shredding on an electric guitar with two other men with long black hair.

He stood there, in plain sight of the rest of them, and watched as her fingers slid smoothly over the guiotar's fretboard, her whole body moving in rythm, her curves moving like ocean waves. Her guitar was black and spiky and crackling energy came from her hands; she was electrifying it herself _without a wand_.

Her two male companions looked slightly older, or maybe it was because their dress was slightly less flamboyant. Both had long black hair and the same large eyes, but they were bigger. One was on a drum set, the other on a similar guitar, but longer. He guessed it was a bass, but he really knew nothing about the instruments themselves. His eyes were on Professor Halliwell, Hogwarts teacher.

She had her hair a dark ruby red today, her eyes a blazing red, her skin pale as milkl. Her eyes were rimmed in red and black eye makeup, her lips were blue, but strangely, this all suited her and made her more beautiful than ever. She wore long, tight trousers, made of red plaid and covered in black cloth straps. Over that, she wore a pleated skirt not unlike the ones assigned at Hogwarts, except it was a foot shorter and colored black and red with a large, silver skull on the front, acting as a sort of sporan. She wore a black halter top for a shirt that showed quite a lot of skin, just as pale as his own beneath his robes. He felt his face warm and knew he was blushing.

The man on the drums was the firs to notice they had an audience, although their music was almost non existent by his ears. The cahrms they had placed around them formed a sort of soundproof bubble.

He stoppepd drumming, and eventually, the rest of them stopped playing and she spotted him standign there. Her eyes went wide in surprise, her blue mouth a perfect O of surprise. She stood there, her guitar still hanging off her shoulder, her twop companions either standing or sitting there near her, all staring at him, curious. She took out her wand and Vanished the charm they hasd placed and now he could hear the static crackle of the electricity coming from her hands. She nulled it and took a step towards him.

"Who is this guy?" asked the man on the drums, looking haughtily at Snape. He had large, soft brown eyes and a hard, thin mouth. He wasn't bad looking, but Snape didn't look at men that way. The other man, obviously his twin, had he same large eyes as Ranikara but they were a pale, blue. They both wore simple black shirts and trousers, and one had a skull belt buckle. They both wore simple black eyeliner.

"Professor Severus Snape, he'e Defense teacher I told you guys about. Severus, this is my twin brother Shan, " she pointed to the one on the drums, "and my other twin brother, Lance."

So she had siblings? Twin brothers, even?

"We're triplets," she added, almost shyly, and she took off her guitar and set it next to her against a schoolbag he hadn't noticed before. It was black with a silver reflector on the front and he guessed she had kept it from her own school days.

She closed her eyes and seemed to shiver violently, and next second, she wore a less revealing shirt, albeit still dark and creepy looking, and her hair had turned an inky shade of midnight black, waist length and wavy. It suited her dark make up, and Severus thought she looked like a perfect Dark Angel, cold as death and more alluring as his favorite desert. (Bread Pudding)

"What are you doing, Professor? Surely, Hogwarts teachers do not head bang and scream on school grounds," he teased coldly, smirking and raising an eyebrow.

"Well, if you were wondering what I do on my time off, you found out. Promise you won't tell?" she said, smiling lightly in her own right. She was _sooo_ beautiful. One of her brothers must have caught his expression, because the one she'd called Shan stood up and said, "hey!"

Snape pulled out his wand on instinct more than anything, then reminded himself that this was how he lost Lily, by acting first and thinking later. He would die if he lost Ran too.

To his immense surprise, the one called Shan blanched and took a step back, away from him, his eyes narrowed and spitefull.

Ran stepped between them both and her look seemed to plead with Snape to put hs wand away. He stood up straighter and tucked it back into his robes.

"Both my brothers are Squibs, Severus. Neither owns a wand and neither can do much more magic than sparking," she said flatly.

"Gee, thanks, sis," said the other brother with a twisted leer, but when Ran looked away, Severus saw him smile and wink at his brother behind her back and knew he was teasing her.

Then he stopped to think; how could such an immensely powerful witch have two twin Squib brothers? Then he remembered what she told Mulciber, that she came from a long line of strong purebloods. Could both be true? Could she be from a long line of purebloods and be muggle-born? It was possible. If it were, it would also make her the strong focal point of the new marriage law. It was proof that the pureblood lines were becoming unglued due to intermarriage. He would ask her about it later.

"Alright. I'll leave you to your... hobby," he said softly, glancing at her guitar and his drums.

Before he could go, however, a tawny owl bearing a scrolll tied in red ribbon flew down and landed on Ran's shoulder.

"Hoot," it hooted dolefully. Ran started and glanced up.

"I guess it's for me. Better not be another petition..." she grumbled. Severus suddenly felt the dire need to get out of there fast. He began to sweat and his mouth sudenly went dry. What was the matter with him? He had never been one to get nervous, not even around Lily, so what was he _doing_?

She took the letter down, undid the ribbon and unfurled it, her brow knitting, her expression slightly clouded.

"Who is it from?" asked Shan.

She didn't answer, just looked at Severus with a curious expression on her face, half amazement, half embarassment.

"You," she said.

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Well? Please review!!!

I was the most popular unpopular kid in school. Infamous

**but im popular because im what everybody wants to be **

That;'s what I always said


	9. Mrs

(GASPS!!) Oh n0es!!! Whatever will she do? What will Snape do? How will what she does affect him? You'll have to read on to find out.

Please enjoy, and review!!

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Ran was back in her office, holding the piece of parchment and tracing the ministry seal with her finger. She couldn't believe it. Severus Snape wanted to marry her. To tell the truth, she didn't like the marriage law much; she wasn't the marrying type. She wanted to travel before she even thought of marriage and children. She also knew that whatever Snape had up his sleeve, it had something to do with those creeps that called themselves Death eaters. Or maybe he was trying to save her from them? For she had read a disturbing headline in the Daily Prophet the previous day. The Ministry was beginning to give the muggle-borns away to the first witches or wizards that asked for them. They were having their choices ripped from them.

Whatever his intentions were, she thought she needed time to think about it. She was muggle born, whatever her family stock came from, and she wasn't exempt from this idiotic law.

She folded up the letter and stuck it in her desk to ponder over later and headed out to her classroom to prepare for her class tomorrow.

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The next day brought a veritable flood of similar petitions, and another Ministry letter ith a shock so horrid that she dumped her goblet of Pumpkin juice and her mouth fell, all the blood draining from her face.

"Good heavens, child, whatever's the matter?" said McGonagall from her right.

She thrust the letter at their Headmistress, who read it aloud to those around her.

"Dear Miss Halliwell, due to the new law, we are delighted to inform you of your new fiance, a mr. Lucius Malfoy. We expect you here at the Ministry no later than this wednesday, sincerely, Roary Buckley."

But she wasn't listening. She knew of Mr. Malfoy by reputation and knew for a fact he was a death eater. There was nothing for it. She had touched a foot into the waters of the unknown pertaining to this new law; now she felt she must swallow her pride and take the plunge.

She got up in the middle of breakfast, walked behind the staff at their meals and cornered the Defense teacher, who was eating scrambled eggs with a peckish appetite.

She grabbed his wrist and forced him to stand up. A few of the students watching stared but she didn't care.

Her face masked in what she hoped was an earnest expression, she said, "I accept."

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"I shall go with you to the Ministry this Wednesday, if you wish it, Ranikara. I have no qualms about meeting Lucius face to face," he repeated once again.

It was after classes and it had been with a leaden stomach and writhing insides that he had passed through the day. After how she had "accepted" that morning, his insides had been writhing all day. He wasn't sure if it was nerves or if it was just the fact that he was about to be married off to some woman in a matter of weeks because of some stupid new law.

"I'm sorry, Severus, I really am. I like you, but I thought I would have time to think things through, and then they started forcing us to marry first come first serve and I panicked," she tried apologizing again, but Severus merely smiled and settled both hands on her shoulders.

"I understand," he said, yet again.

Actually, the only thing he heard her say was "I like you", but he wasn't going to tell her that.

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That Wednesday, Severus decided to Apparate with her to the Ministry, as she had no idea where it was located. They appeared right in the entrance hall and they both headed over to the security desk to present their wands and get their badges.

"Silver Fur and Chimaera hair, 13 inches, in use ... 15 years?" said the man behind said desk, frowning slightly, then looking up at her young face. She took her wand back.

"I got it when I was 5," she said crossly, and Severus took his own wand back.

He led her into one of the golden-grilled lifts and they stood there among the very few shifty looking witches also there for what Snape could only assume had to do with the new law.

When they finally approached their appointment with the man who keopt writing the letters, it was to find Lucius Malfoy already there. He saw Ran and smield coldly. He saw who was with her and glared.

"No," he muttered under his breath.

"Miss Halliwell, pleased to meet you, my name is Roary Buckler and I am in charge of the Marriage Law Department, I-" began the timid looking red-haired man, but Snape held up a hand for silence.

"I believe I petitioned for Miss Halliwells's hand in marriage a full day in advance of Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Buckler," he said coldly, making sure to give Lucius the coldest look he could. At this, he was surprised to feel her put her arms around his free left arm, positively clutching it as a nervous date does at a dance. His confidence boosted and he stod a little straighter, daring the small, timid looking man to contradict him.

"I... well, that is to say, er... if you could give me the proof document, than I should of course be happy to... yes..." stammered the man, and Snape pulled said document out of the front of Ran's robes; it had been ticking out the whole time and he didnt have to grope. She didn't blush.

He handed it to him and stood there, his arm in hers, Lucius Malfoy looking positively livid at being thwarted. If looks could kill, he would have covered the entire Ministry in frost.

Roary Buckler unfurled it, his eyes scanning it once, twice, three times, then lowered it and cleared his throat nervously.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Malfoy, but it seems he did petition for her the very day we enacted your idea of the forced hand law. I'm afraid I will have to grant them permission, and her name shall be stricken from the list of availables," said Mr. Buckler, and indeed, on the list of names behind his desk, another name was magically crossed off. Snape felt her hands squeeze on his arm and he took her hand in reassurance. Somehow, it felt..._right_. Not unfamiliar, not out of place at all. Like it was to be.

"Here you are, Mr. Snape, Miss Halliwell, and I hope you are happy," he said timidly, as if he knew that this law wasn't making anyone happy at all. He handed Snape a small square of parchment bordered in fancy calligraphic designs. It was a very hastiily done marriage license and had the hurried look of a magical copy of several thousand others.

"Thank you, Mr. Buckler," he said haltingly, sounding every bit as cold and evil as he did i n his potions classes. He turned to Lucius Malfoy and found himself face to face already.

"This isn't over, Snape," he hissed venemously.

"I thought it had just ended, Mr. Malfoy. Good day," said Ran clearly and firmly, glaring at him with wide eyes and she took a firmer grip on Snape's arm and Apparated them both back to Hogsmeade.

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Oh, please review!!!!


	10. Engagement ring jitters

Hey, thanks to Brenda, and I just might add Felonusangel here... heehehe e she'll just have to watch out (hands her a squishy, non-evil cute hypoalergenic penguin) Please read, review and enjoy... hey, that sounds kinda catchy... I think I might make a catch phrase out of that

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Severus took the time that very same evening to ask permission from McGonagall to return to his off-time home of Spinners End. He didn't often go back there to his childhood house of horrors, although he still technically owned it. He only went there when he needed time to think, and think hard. This time he went back for an entirely different reason.

He walked straight upstairs into his mother's old bedroom, which he had turned into a kind of memorial. It was in much the same shape she had left it in when she died, and he had added candles and portraits of various places in the wizarding world, pictures of her and her friends from school. He wanted to remember her as the person she had been rather than the person his father had turned her into.

He walked straight over to her bedside table, opened the drawer and pulled out a small white box with a plain, unassuming lid. Did he really want to do this? He wanted to make Lucius and the others think he was doing it because he had to, not because he wanted to. But then he remembered.

He had to stop thinking like Dumbledore's spy and remember that he was his own man now, and all images could be dropped and forgotten. He no longer had to pretend to care about the Death Eaters; he decided he would live his life how he wished.

He slipped the box into his pocket and left for Hogwarts without a second thought.

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He returned to find the castle asleep and quiet. He wasn't sure if she was even awake still, but he went down to the dungeons anyway and entered her darkened classroom. He knocked softly on her office door and a muffled voice said "minute."

He himself wore hisusual day robes and buttoned up under clothes, but upon openeing the door, he saw she wore only an overlong short sleeved shirt, her bare legs poking out underneath, her hair tousled, her skin milky. She didn't seemed tired though.

Severus!" she exclaimed softly, trying in vain to stretch her shirt to cover her lower thighs. Severus dutifully didn't look and she seemed grateful for this gentlemanly gesture.

He handed her the white box without a word.

She opened in uncertainly and saw what was inside. She held it up, her face a mask he could not decipher. He hoped to god she liked it. He knew his mother had.

It was a simple silver band shaped like a snake with small emeralds set for eyes and smaller diamonds set in for scales. He helped guide it onto her ring finger and she finally looked up at his face, him in his robes, she in her t-shirt. He suddenly felt the urge to grab her and kiss her for the first time.

As it turned out he didn't have to.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her lips to his in a surprisingly fierce kiss.

Startled, he almost forgot to kiss her back, but when he got into it, the kiss went from fierce to slow and passionate. He could feel her skin start to heat up, and he ran his hands down her shoulders, feeling the curves through her thin shirt. She had a tongue ring.

He tried telling her to stop and slow down, but his words were muffled by their kiss and he figured screw it. He didn't want this kiss to end.

She flung him around, so he was in her office and she was outside in the classroom and he was forced to stumble backwards as she forced him back. She kicked the door shut with her foot.

She broke the kiss and looked up at him with what looked like sheer gratitude.

"I take it you like the ring?" he said quietly.

"I love it. Where did you get it on such short notice?" she said.

At this, Snape got quiet and the thing that had been awoken inside him quieted as well.

"It was my mother's."

"Oh,...but are you sure-?" she said, her eyes sparkling mischeviously with their previous actions.

He took her hand in his larger one and leaned down, planting a single kiss on her soft, perfect lips. It felt wonderfull and sent a thrill through his very core.

"I'm not marrying you because I want to, believe me," he began. He face fell and he felt bad, but he wasn't done.

"I would have preferred more time to get to know you first," he finished.

Suddenly there was a knock at the office door. It totally broke the moment.

Snape went to answer it because she was indecent and he came face to face with what looked like a sixth year Slytherin with white blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a dressing gown and carried a parchment letter with an ornate M on it.

"Thank you, Miss-?"

"Lopez, Professor. Professor McGonagall received this while you were out," she said and she gave Halliwell a spare look before turning and heading out into the dungeons corridor.

Snape closed the office door and only had time to stuff the note into his robes before he was pulled by the front of his robes behind a thick velvet curtain.

"Why-?" he had time to say, and she kissed him again.

"I've wanted to kiss you ever since you came by the classroom that first day," she admitted softly, and Snape removed his outer robe and ran a hand through her long thick hair, which was slowly turning a pale pink color. It didn't reallty suit her but he didn't care. All he wanted was her.

He softly pressed his liips to hers and slipped his tongue into her mouth in a deep kiss, his arms encircling her waist, feeling her soft curves, and he didn't even care when he felt her hands begin unbottoning his shirt.

"I want this," she breathed sharply and Severus squeezed her shoulder slightly as he felt her touch him where he was hardest. He wanted her, too, but he couldn't find the words. He could, however, undress himself and this is exactly what he did.

_Half an hour later_

She lay in a solitary patch of moonilght, her hair turned a pale honey brown color, her eyes a soft, velvety blue, but no matter what, he realized, her face always remained the same.

He lay in nothing but his shorts and undershirt and traced a finger up her side, feeling the soft, warm, taut skin there and he wanted her again. It had been so long since he had had anyone at all, and she was exquisite. He would wait, at least until after they were married.

"I must go," he said softly, grazing her jaw with his lips, and she directed his mouth over hers once again. He loved kissing her and had never guessed how unsurpassable it would be until she had done it.

"Come back when you can?" she asked, covering herself up once again. She still wore her t-shirt.

"I will," he promised, and with that, he grabbed his clothes, got dressed and headed back to his own chambers.

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I told you I'd add you in, Rita, please review everyone!! I love'em!


	11. Private preparations

Hey, anyone wonder what that parchment was for? C'mon, where's the love? I have almost no reviews! Please review?? I'll give you digital brownies!!

Enjoy!!

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Severus forgot about the parchment the blonde sixth year had brougth him the previous night until he felt it in his robes the next day. He took it out, tore off the ribbon and unfurled it. It was from Lucius Malfoy, and boy, did he sound pissed. A detached part of him was pleased he was angry and disappointed. This was his form of throwing a fit. A small, cold smile broke through his sleepy features as he read it.

_Dear Severus,_

_Don't think I don't know what you are up to. You plan to play Dumbledore's favorite by treating the mudbloods as if they are worthy. You know they are not. Dumbledore is dead, and you would do well to remember it. He's no longer around to protect you._

_The Death Eaters are still strong and if you are not with us, it is only safe for us to assume you are against us. You have been warned. We will find you, and your new wife, rest assured. This is not the end._

_Sincerely, _

_Lucius Malfoy_

He crumpled the letter up and threw it into the fireplace to be burned later, when he was colder and in the mood to light it. In the meantime, he had time to relive the previous night's rendezvous as he got dressed... the feeling of her thick, cool silky hair, her flushed skin, the sound she made when her kissed her neck...

By the time he was dressed and ready for the day's classes, he was in a marginally better mood, so much so that he completely forgot to be horrible to his fourth year Defense class. He could tell they were wondering what had made him so cheerful, but he ignored them. For the first time in his life since he had Lily, he was happy. He actually thought this marriage law wasn't as bad as he had made it out to be. It was still a nuisance, of course, because he had never imagined himself married, let alone with children, but Ran was...different. Confident. Headstrong. She had a strong, independant streak in her that he admired. It meant as well that she would never get underfoot of him while he was working at his home during the summer vacation.

Then it hit him. The deadline for them both was that coming Saturday. The two weeks had passed faster than he had anticipated. He had to get married before this Sunday.

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He hurried to her classroom right after his second class, during which he knew they both got a break, to ask her about plans and what she wanted to do. To his surprise, someone was already there.

It wasn't a student.

It wasn't a teacher.

It was Lucius Malfoy, and he was armed.

He snuck up behind him, drawing his own wand out, and was startled but not too surprised to see that he was pointing his wand at an equally fierce looking Ranikara, who had her own Chimaera wand pointed directly back at him. Her eyes shifted ever so slightly, noticing him, but Lucius Malfoy didn't follow her gaze.

"Where is he, girl?" said Lucius coldly.

"I dunno where he is. You might try asking him," sahe said just as coldly, jerking her head in his direction, and before he could turn around properly, he twirled his wand, a curse in his mind. White hot light streaked towards him like a knife and he was blasted backwards into the wall, where he lay sprawled and did not move.

"Thanks. He was looking for you," she said, pocketing her wand.

"I know. I got this from that Slytherin Lopez lastnight. He is angry about being denied your hand. It is why I came down here. To speak to you about the wedding," he said.

"I know the deadline is this Saturday. Which means we have less than a day to prepare and get everything together," she said, looking a little nervous now.

"I dunno what I want to do. What's a wizard wedding like, anyway?" she asked, glancing at Malfoy Sr.

"Not that different from a muggle wedding. Do you have a gown?" he asked.

"Haven't been shopping yet, I planned to ask McGonagall if she wanted to go with me after school," she replied, grabbing Malfoy Sr under the arms and attempting to drag him to the doorway. She made it to her classroom door and dropped him. She began nudging him out the door into the corridor with her foot, and when she had got him outside, she shut the door. He admired her nonchalance. If Draco Malfoy came down for her next class and saw his unconcious father, he would have a fit.

"I need to go into town as well. Dress robes," he said at her puzzled expression. He also needed to get the rings, but that trip could be saved for last on his list.

"Don't spend too much on my account. I like simple," she said, smiling at him, and she wrapped one arm around his waist, gave him a brief squeeze and went over to her desk to sort through papers.

"I'll bear it in mind. How does Saturday evening, Hogsmeade sound?" he asked quietly. He couldn't believe he was planning his own wedding as if it were as simple as going to the bathroom.

"Sounds alright. Hogwarts would be bigger, though. My family is going to want to come. I wrote them yesterday to tell them, and they were annoyed at first, but they agreed to come. They'll probably fawn over you and warn you and stuff... ignore my mother, she's a little daffy," she said bracingly, beginning to grade essays.

Severus smirked coldly, imagining his father at the wedding, drunk as always and screaming at his new wife and decided just as readily that he wasn't inviting anyone he knew. It made him realize just how few true friends he really had. Harry Potter, however, had seemed to change his mind and decided Snape was the bravest man he had ever known and had gone out of his way to do him favors, a fact that was starting to creep him out. He really was starting to act like his mother rather than his father, and he was most reluctant to admit to himself that he was starting to, dare he say it, _like_ the boy. Maybe he would invite him and his two friends, the Golden Trio.

"I'll leave you to it, then," he said, and he made a small biow in her direction before exiting her classroom to the Great Hall. He made sure to tread on Malfoy Sr's fingers on his way out.

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He found McGonagall in the Great Hall and hailed her immediately. He also saw the Golden Trio at the Gryffindor table, pouring over homework. He would speak to them after.

"Yes? What is it, Severus?" she asked, looking worried, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

He brushed it off politely and said, "Ranikara.. Professor Halliwell. We've set a date for the wedding, this Saturday."

McGonagall's expression was hard to read. Snape assumed she thought this marriage law was ridiculous and unopposed, but even though he had opposed it n the first place, now that he had Ran, he didn't mind so much... she was perfect in every way he could possibly think of. She must have seen something glimmer behind his unfathomable black eyes, because she gave him a strained smile and congratulated him.

"She was wondering if you would like to go with her into the village and help her shop for a gown," he added, remembering what she had told him.

"Why, of course! I would love to," she said, and with that, she hurried off in the direction of the dungeons.

He stood there for just a moment, then figured there was nothing for it. He had been hinged on the idea, and he didn't want to make it look as if he had _no_ friends, in front of her entire family... if he was going to make her happy, he may as well get in her family's good books while he was at it. He would _not_ become his father.

He approached the Gryffindor table at his ease and Ronald Weasley saw him coming and nudged Miss Granger and Potter in the side. They all turned to watch as he approached them.

"Is it true, Professor? Are you really gettin' married to that new teacher?" asked Ron, his mouth forming an expression torn between hilarity and disgust.

He smirked, his sarcastic trademark expression, and said, "that's not really any of your business, is it Mr. Weasley? Of course... I would be...delighted... if Mr. Potter, Miss Granger and yourself would come, as my... guests.

They stared at him as if he had grown two extra heads and a tail.

"Er... sure, Professor... we'll be there. When is it?" asked Potter. How extraordinarily like his spitefull father he looked just then, but the look in his mother's eyes said he was quite the opposite. He could never figure out how he had missed it before.

"This Saturday, on the grounds. You should be able to spot it," he said, and he had to get away from the three of them before he vomited. They may not be as irksome as he had been led to believe for 6 years, but they were still revoltingly _good_.

He walked away before they could say anything in retort. He met McGonagall just as he was about to enter his dungeon office. She had Ranikara tagging along behind her. Both of them looked happy about something, but he was damned if he could figure it out. They both had their minds skillfully cloaked.

"Severus, I have permission from the school board for you to take the rest of the week off, considering the circumstances. We'll hire a substitute for your classes. We're headed to the village, tell anyone who wants to get into touch with me that owls bearing my name on their letters will find me in Hogsmeade," she explained, and Snape gave her a curt nod. Both women disappeared through the front doors and out of his sight.

He had shopping of his own to do.

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She and McGonagall walked down the high street of Hogsmeade on that chilly November evening gossiping happiily. McGonagall wanted to know how her classes were going, and she told them they were going fantastically.

"And what about Severus? My goodness you must be nervous, he can be very hard to talk to sometimes," she said worriedly. Ran was forcibly reminded of her grandmother, who was a Squib and terribly motherly.

Ran shrugged and avoided stepping in a pile of dirty slush.

"He's alright. Bit grumpy sometimes, but I think that has more to do with his gloomy office than anything," she attempted a joke. Minerva chuckled, at least.

"Aren't you... well, reluctant?" she asked.

To that, she had no honest answer. She hadn't liked the law one bit at first, and she had liked the forced hand part even less. But Severus wouldn't be so bad, she was sure of it, and if it was a question of saving the magic in the world, well so be it. She could have worse. She told Minerva so, too.

Well, I have plenty of money, sent to me from my family back home... I have a great aunt that's pretty wealthy and she said she'd pay for the wedding... I just don't want anything too lavish. Know of any good places to get formal gowns?" she asked her older colleague.

Minerva pointed to a place called Klaris and Pattys, and Ran saw an assortment of formal robes and gowns displayed in the shop windows.

They turned into the shop and Ran was immediately overpowered by the scent of Rosemary and daisies. A rack full of flowered hair pieces next to her told her why. Their combined aroma was repugnent.

She immediately saw a rack full of simple-bodiced gowns with full skirts and hurried over. She had always loved full skirted dresses, especially for school dances when she attended muggle school.

"Ooo, try this one, dear, it would go lovely with... well, whatever color you want your hair to be," said McGonagall, and she held up a satin, long-trained dress, strapless with a scrunched up side next to a slit that would show off her entire thigh and one leg. She wrinkled her nose in distaste; it looked too much like the dresses she saw a lot of the snobby girls back in the states wear.

"I like this one," she said, and she picked up a floor-length, crepe skirted dress with a one-sleeved top. Her other shoulder would be bare. The skirt reminded her of a ballerina skirt, just floor-length. It was a pale shade of lavender.

"Lovely," said McGonagall. She touched the front of an equally full skirted dress, this one with a simple v-neck bodice, entirely in crushed white velvet. It was gorgeous and she took it from her.

"Oooo... ths is gonna be so hard," she whined. Was she actually getting excited for a wedding she was technically being forced into? But then she remembered Severus, and his mysterious demeanor and his long, black hair... especially those eyes, and she supposed she was. But so what? She could get excited if she wanted to, it was her wedding. Not planned, but still.

"Oh, look, dear, they have tiaras, as well," exclaimed McGonagall, and Ran took the two dresses she had decided on and went over to look at them with her. One was very simple- an Irish circlet, plain silver, with an entwined double-embroidered cord twined around its entirety, in red and gold. A tag on the circlet and simple veil read "color-changeable". It was perfect, and hr mind was made up. She didn't care about the 20 galleon price tag. She had more than enough.

She handed Minerva the circlet and asked her to wait while she tried on dresses. She tried the velvet-bodied dress first; it was far too small, so she enlarged it with her wand so it fit, then took it in at the semas by magic. She had some knowledge of magic from all branches, although she would never tell, because a lot of it wasn't allowed. Especially modifying a dress she hadn't payed for yet. She would make sure to shrink it back to original size once she was done. It just annoyed her so much when she liked something in the muggle world but it just didn't fit because her boobs were too big or her shoulders too broad!

She looked in the mirror and imagined herself with the circlet and veil and flowers, and thought it would look so much better offsetted with a white cloak. She decided right away on the velvet-bodiced gown.

She changed, left the dress the way she had enlarged it and exited the dressing room with it folded over her arm.

"Well?" asked Minerva expectantly.

"I had to modify it, but I like it. I think I'll get it," she said in a hushed whisper, because at the moment, the owner of the shop made his appearance. He had slicked back black hair and pale skin. He was middle aged and portley and wore navy blue dress robes.

"Ah, customers! I'm so sorry I didn't hear you coem in, otherwise, I would have been right here! May I get you anything?" he asked, looking genuinely apologetic.

"Yes, I'd like this veil and dress, please," she said immediately, and Minerva set the circlet on the counter with her new wedding dress.

"Also, do you sell cloaks?" she asked, just out of curiosity.

"Getting married because of that infernal new law? I've had a lot of unhappy women in here lately... it's a pity that muggle borns like us are being forced to marry ,but of course, I already was... why yes, we sell cloaks! Right over there!" the man exclaimed, and he pointed at a rack she had somehow missed.

She walked over to it and immediately saw one she liked, ong, billowy and the purest white to match her new dress. It was also, she discovered upon touching it, made of a sleek fur that she recognized as otter or some other creature like it. She felt bad for whatever animal had been slaughtered to make it, but decided it would be cold outside and she would want to be warm. She decided to get it.

"Your total is 90 galleons, 10 sickles and 5 knuts," he said. (A/N: For those of you who don't know, 90 galleons, 10 sickles 5 knuts would be equal to $912.3 in the US, because both Galleons and the UK pound are worth more than the us dollar. While 90 may not sound expensive, it is. check the harry potter lexicon)

She reached into the purse she almost never carried, drew her wand and withdrew the enormous ammount of money from it and set it in stacks on the counter. She had more than enough left over, nearly 500 galleons. (5000 dollars)

"Shall I vanish them to be sent to your rooms at Hogwarts, miss, or would you like to take them by hand?" he asked, drawing out a wand. He magically bagged both dress and veil and looked at her with a questioning eye. He seemed kind enough, so she trusted him to vanish them.

"If you wouldn't mind," she said, and cloak, dress and veil all vanished with a flick of his wand.

"Good day to you, miss and madam, and good luck," he said, and with that, he bowed them both out of his shop.

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Severus couildn't decide. It was logical to assume she would be wearing white, but the day he, Severus Snape, wore white in public would be a sad day in Hell indeed. In the end he decided on formal robes made of black cotton with white cuffs and a single pocket in the breast. It had no buttons much to his dismay, but it was much simpler than the ruffly stuff he saw around him. He also, because they would be outside, bought a velvet-lined black cloak that would be swept far enough back on his thin shoulders that his dress robes were not hidden from view. He also bought a special hairpotion to tame the greasiness. It was naturally greasy, wash it as many times as he did.

He walked down the street to a jewelry shop that looked as if it had just opened and began browsing, looking for somoething simple, as she said, but not too expensive. He really did like her; it would just be too strange to want to marry her on such short notice for any other reason than the marriage law.

He decided on silver bands with their initials entwined on the outside. He waved his wand and the original letters read S.S. and the ones on the smaller ring read R.H.S. He paid 20 galleons for both of them and was bowed from the shop by the owner. He pocketed the ring set in the same bag he carried his new robes in and stood there in the slushy street brooding for a moment.

This was one of his last days as a free, single man. Marriage was a chasm from whence there was no coming back, and he could never have another woman. But why would he ever want another? Ran was enough. He was still coming to terms wirththe fact that a mere three days from now, he would be a married man. Damn the Ministry.

"Watch it, man!" shouted a red-nosed wizard as a horse-drawn cart pulled by, nearly cutting him in half. He jumped back with the reflexes of a cat and shook himself out of his reverie for the moment. He had plenty of time to think back up at the castle.

He met Ranikara and Minerva on his way back up to the school and acted pleasantly surprised to run into them both. She was clutching a small shopping bag with the name of a nearby bookshop on the side of it. He wondered what kind of book she got. He thought he recognized the curly, calligraphic writing on it through the plastic, but he couldn't remember where.

Minerva left them both alone with a small, knowing smile on her face, and gtogether, they walked back up to the school, hand in hand, their shopping secrets their own.

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Please review!!!


	12. Chilly wedding in more ways than one

This one might be short, it might not... depends. Please read, review and enjoy!! I appreciate feedback!

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It was Friday, and the entire school was in an uproar. Half the school as of the opinion that Professor Snape's imminent marriage to their newest and prettiest teacher was nothing short of marvelous, in the hopes that she might soften him up so he wasn't so horrible.

The other half was convinced that it was nothing short of base treachery, especially among the Slytherins. Half of them had fathers who wanted them to marry the muggle-born Halliwell.

Already, their classes were becoming harder and harder and they found they needed their teacher's help more and more, but she was increasingly not there in the follow up to her wedding. A lot of them had resorted to copying from their textbooks, but she didn't seem to care. And Professor Snape was not only perfectly cheerful, (albeit distant and glassy-eyed) during both his lessons, but he was bullying the Gryffindors less and less and becoming more of a competent teacher. Everyone's grades in his classes had improved marginally.

The truth of it was, he was no longer concerned about the Death Eaters or the Dark Lord or what Potter and his friends thought. He no longer cared about pure bloodllines, muggle borns or the difference between muggles and muggle-borns. He no longer cared about anything much, except what was expected of him, the law, his own hobbies and his own thoughts. Included in these, of course, was Ranikara Halliwell.

He had already tried on his dress robes for the ceremony; he thought he looked stuffy and scrawny, for the cut of them was slimmer than his usual day robes. They made his already sallow skin look paler. He had tried on his own wedding band and thought the effect was strange; he didn't wear jewelry, for obvious potion-making reasons. Again, for the umpteen-millionth time, he though he could never imagine himself married.

The teachers had all been invited, of course, and since it would take place during the school year, all lessons and exams had been called off for that particular day, to allow for the wedding. Anyone who wanted to come, could. They were not the only couple getting married that day.

There was also a tear-streaked seventh-year from Hufflepuff who was being married reluctantly to a seventh-year Ravenclaw. He thought it the sort of thing Lily Evans would have done when he discovered that Ran had offered their wedding decorations, such as the archway she had bought, to the Hufflepuff girl, and they were consoling each other bride to bride.

Finally, Saturday came. Their wedding wasn't set to commence until 5 pm, but even hours before, he was nervous. He kept pacing up and down in his office, where he was having a sort of bachelor party, with the male teachers at Hogwarts, and he had swept all potion-making essentials out of the way to make way for it. Slughorn was raving about he and Ran, how good they were for each other, and He noticed that Flitwick looked as if he would rather be anywhere else but his gloomy office.

There was a small refreshment table and he hurried over to it and helped himself to a goblet of punch while he tried to ignore the wizarding radio in the corner, playing music that sounded high and shrill in his ears. He just had butterflies. He was signing his life away because of some stupid law! But who was he kidding, he _liked_ the woman he was to marry. He could only imagine what his insides would feel like once he saw her; probably snakes.

"I got you a little present, now, nothing big, just a good luck token, Severus," said Slughorn amiably, and he handed Snape a small wrapped package in green paper. It felt like a picture frame. He could only imagine what it might be of. He unwrapped it and saw a photograph of what looked like his entire Hogwarts class, with the teachers, students and ghosts.

"Thank you, Horace," he said quietly, and he vanished it, to reappear in his classroom desk.

"Professor," said someone, and he started; it was Potter. He raised an eyebrow. He had only invited teachers, but he supposed it wasn't hurting anyone.

"Potter," he said simply, in way of greeting.

"Ron and I ... we, er, got this for you... Remus Lupin said you would like it, to remind you..." he trailed off, and without another word, he shoved yet another photo into his hands. He looked at it, a lump forming in his throat, his chest constricting.

It was a photo of Lily Evans, Potter's mother and she was laughing in the picture, her green eyes sparkling. He marveled that the boy had had the courage to give him a photo of his mother when he was about to be married to another woman.

"Tell him I said thank you, and I wish for him to mind his own business," he said in a deadly voice, and he vanished this photo too, to reappear alongside the photo Slughorn had given him.

"Yes, sir," he said, and he looked around instead of leaving as was pertinent.

"While I invited you personally to the ceremony, Potter, I did not invite you to my office. Please leave," he reminded him and Potter smiled like his mother and left.

His gift had shaken him. What would Lily think? Then a smaller voice in the back of his head reminded him that Lily had never forgiven him in the first place, and no matter how much he had loved her and how much she had disliked him, she would encourage him to target another woman. It was just so hard to give up the one woman he had ever loved to make way for another that he was obligated to.

_Meanwhile..._

Ranikara was having a bachelorette party in her own right, being held in Minerva's Transfiguration classroom, and like her husband-to-be's bachelor party, there was a table of refreshments. Ran herself wore only a thin underslip down to her ankles. This was a time just for the girls.

"What color shoudl I do my hair?" she was asking a chatty Minerva McGonagall. Sudenly, there was a loud knock on the door, and Minerva went to get it. Ran peeked around her shoulder; it was Harry Potter, and he was looking sneaky about something...

"Sorry, Professor, but I've just come from Professor Snape's party, and he ... er... well, I was thinking, since he loved my mother, then you should do your hair red, like hers, and your eyes are already green..." he trailed off. How had he knwn what she had been asking?

"Why should I do that?" she countered suspiciously.

"Well... it would remind him of who he was marrying and maybe make sure he treats you alright... he wouldn't hurt my mum, see," he explained, and Ran thanked him and shut the classroom door, her expression still clouded.

"Cheer up, dear, Mr. Potter has a point, you know. This is a forced marriage and he might not feel he has to treat you fairly... perhaps you should take his advice," she said in an undertone to her, and she closed her eyes and concentrated, her expression serene. She gave a shiver and when she opened her eyes, she spied a lock of dark auburn hair out of the corner of her face. She tugged at it pensively and frowned. She didn't think it would look good on her, but when she looked in the mirror, she bore a striking resemblance to Lily Evans. Except the shape of her face and her figure, that was. Her eyes were a cloudier green and her hair was longer, and wavy, but she could have been her sister.

"I dunno if he'd like this," she muttered to no one, and she decided to change the color of her hair by a couple shades, so it was the color of darkened flames, her eyes so they were more of a sea-green than the gray green they actually were. There. That was better. It didn't look purposeful now.

"Hey, when were you planning to get changed?" called Professor Sinistra from the corner, and she started and glanced at the clock. It was 2 pm. She had three hours. She had been anticipating this moment ever since she had bought the dress, because she loved how she felt in it. She felt like a princess and she would never admit to anyone but she loved dressing up no matter how much she pretended to hate it.

She Summoned the bag she had brought in Hogsmeade to the classroom and, pulling the dress out, she pulled it over her head. She had Minerva zip up the back of it and help her adjust the circlet veil she'd bought that day. She looked in the mirror and it took her breath away. She set her hair up in an elaborate setting, with glossy curls and tendrils hanging in and around her face, setting small emeralds she had inherited from her grandmother in her hair. It made her eyes stand out more.

Finally, she tried on the white fur cloak and thought she looked like an ice princess.

"She's so beautiful!" gasped one of the women in the room, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

_Back with Severus Snape..._

It was almost time. It was an hour later, and the party was winding down. People were starting to leave and Severus was glad for it. He needed some time by himself. He clasped the cloak he had bought around his shoulders and prepared to go down onto the grounds. He did not want to see Ran before he had to. He was afraid he would chicken out.

He strode out of the dungeons and accidentally bumped into Draco Malfoy on the way up the stairs to the Great Hall. He glared at his previously favorite teacher.

"You'll pay for what she did to my father," he threatened and Snape smirked and bodily shoved him out of the way.

"Your father would to well to leave the both of us alone. I am no longer inclined to be so...curteous," he called back over his shoulder.

He made his way to the Great Hall.

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Once he got there, he noticed several people were staring at him and his dress robes. He had pinned lily to his breast pocket, in commemoration of the woman he had loved and the woman he was about to marry, who bore a striking resemblance to her when she got angry.

He needed to eat something, or he might vomit. He knocked hard on the staff table and immediately, food was sent up from the kitchens. He dug into some boiled ham and potatoes and washed it all down with a healthy swig of Pumpkin juice. When he finished, the food disappeared to be sent back down and washed.

Having eaten something finally, he decided to go out onto the grounds where it would take place and look at things.

He approached the dark arch she had bought, smiling in approval at the color, dark grey wirth red roses, and spotted a young girl in a white wedding dress, her back turned to him. He knew it wasn't Ran; this girl was taller and she was slumped. He thought he heard crying. He remembered again how unfair this new law was to the muggle borns and felt sorry for her and whoever she was being forced to marry.

She turned around, saw him standing there, and blanched.

"Professor, I- I'm sorry, I just came out here to get some air, please don't-" she began, but he held up a hand to stop her. He did not feel like listening to adolescent agonizing at the moment.

"Understandable. Get inside where it is warmer," he instructed her, and she nodded and ran off, her many skirts billowing behind her, her skin already turning pale and blue. It was very cold.

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Finally, the time arrived. The wedding was being held in the viaduct courtyard.

There were people everywhere, and Snape was more nervous than ever. On one side, a large number of witches and wizards, some very old, others incredibly young, sat there in their best robes, staring straight ahead. He looked across from him where he stood and saw a very old woman with white hair and a strong face in blue dress robes and thought that this must be Ran's mother. She eyed him suspiciously but said nothing.

He spotted a few faculty and students on the other side, where his family were meant to sit, and noticed immediately the Golden Trio at the forefront. He also saw Remus Lupin holding his baby son, Teddy (Nymphadora had died in the final battle and Lupin, nearly), Kingsly Shacklebolt, Dolores Umbridge and the Minister himself, Percy Weasley. Then he received a shock so bad he nearly fainted.

His father was sitting between Remus Lupin and Minerva McGonagall, wearing a suit and tie and looking, for once, sober.

He must have looked furious, because Minerva McGonagall chose that oment to get up from her seat in an unorthodox manner and approach him.

"I'm sorry, Severus, but we had to send him an owl, and he said he wanted to come... we lifted the enchantment over him, obviously, but we hoped you wouldn't mind... I know you two never, well, got along," she tried explaining quietly.

"No worries, Minerva," he said, calling her by her first name. He would deal with whatever his father had in mind after the ceremony.

The music began and he saw Ranikara for the first time since he had run into her in Hogsmeade. His breath caught in his throat and he thought, surely, no one alive was as beautiful as she was right then.

She was dressed in a velvet-bodiced gown with full skirts made of crepe. A simple silver hair circlet held the veil and was entwined by green and gold cords with ribbons snaking down. Her hair... her hair was a few shades short from Lily's, a darkened, buirnt orange color, set up in an elaborate bvun and set with tiny emeralds and pearls. Curls fell in waves near her pale, beautiful face and her eyes were free of makeup and sea green. She held a simple boquet of white lilies and Jasmine. It gave of a pungnet spicy, fruity smell that held him intoxicated.

Her mother smiled at seeing her daughter and Severus stood at the alter waiting for them. He glanced at his father in the seats and tried to put as much revulsion in his face as he possibly could. His father sneered right back, his ark brown hair, brown eyes and hooked nose echoing his son's expression.

Ran's mother let her go and she joined Severus at the alter.

_This is it,_ he thought.

_This is it,_ she thought.

The wedding began.

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From the moment he said "I do," he knew his life wouldn' change that much. Sure, he'd have a wife. Sure, he might have to have kids. Actually, that had been the point of the marriage law in the first place, but all the same. She would stay out of his way, and he, out of hers. He had never seen a more beautiful woman, though, he thought, looking at her hair and her eyes and her face.

"You may kiss the bride," said the small tufty-haired wizard

Not caring what anyone thought, he lifted her chin in his fingers and brought his mouth to hers in the best kiss of his life, slow, deep and warm. He heard applause, but he didn't care; all that existed for him in that moment was her.

When they finally broke apart, he was smiling right back at her.

Together, they walked back down the isle, hand in hand, and he saw the Golden Trio as he passed them; Potter was smiling and Granger was clapping with the rest.

They had only made it to the Transfiguration courtyard when he was caught up by someone with a very familiar rough hand. He let go of Ran and shoved her aside, ready for him. He had his wand in his father's face so fast he almost didn't see it.

"You wouldn't dare, _boy_," he growled, grabbing the end of his wand and jerking it out of his hand. A cold Summoning charm from behind him caused hsi wand to shoot out of his father's hands and into hers. Now she was the only one who was armed.

"I wanted to come and see my only son sign his life away to an enchantress, just like your mother did me," he snarled. An angry intake of breeath from behind him andhe caught an image of his new wife with both his and her wand raised high above her head. He held out a hand and caught her wrist, staying her hand.

"She's a witch" he said in his most deadly, dangerous voice. He narrowed the black eyes he had inherited from his mother and pushed the hair he had inherited from her out of his face.

"She's a bleedin' succubus, and your mother was no better. I just wanted to be there when you made the biggest mistake of your life," he retorted.

"Might I remind you, Tobias, that this marriage was forced upon us by a newly instated law requiring wizards like me to marry witches like her," he said in simpler terms so he would get it. He felt her wrench her wrist free from his grasp and she clenched his hand in hers, stepping up so she stood beside him. She had taken her hair down, and the emeralds and pearls in her hair twinkled and glitterd, drawing attention to her face. She was staring at his father with wide, curious eyes, but her stare was cold and void. He struggled to remember what it reminded him of, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Then her pupils had become slitted and he understood. An enormous Bengal tiger formed in her mind, and he squeezed her hand.

"Don't do it, my _dear. _He's a muggle, you'd get into trouble," he reminded her, and she blinked and the cat-like stare was gone. For a moment,he wondered if it had ever been there.

"Go home, Tobias. This is my life and you never belonged in it," he said coldly.

His father snorted, shoved a wrapped box into his hands, glanced between the pair of them, turned his back and walked away. He would see it in the end. His ex-wife was nothing but a temptress, and he was sure his new daughter-in-law would be just the same.

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Well, please please, PLEASE review!!!! I can't get enough of them!! If you do, I'll post the next chapter sooner... Next chapter is sexy... (winks)

SO PLEASE REVIEW!!


	13. Sex

Hey, this one is kind of provocative... eheheh You'll like it, I'm rating this thing M to be safe, and you'll find out why if you keep reading...Please review

Enjoy

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They had been permitted to share personal quarters for the remainder of the school year. She had already imposed part of her personality on his sleeping quarters already; she had brought one of her pillows in to sleep on rather than take one of his and her pillowcase was black with a slashed-looking red A on it. He had no idea what it stood for. She had also drawn the curtains on the only window overlooking the black lake; she claimed she couldn't sleep without absolute darkness.

The night of their wedding, he had already got dressed for bed in a long gray night shirt when she came in, wearing nothing at all except a short t-shirt and a pair of simple black cotton underpants. He stared; he had never noticed the extravagantly drawn lizard on her hip, but it stood out like a livid red and black tattoo reminicent of his Dark Mark. She stripped it off, unabashed and he saw she also had much larger breasts than he had at first supposed, her bra cups the size of artillery shells. They accentuated her thin waist. She had a dragon circling her shoulder joint as well and he had himself pretty well under control utnil she unhooked her bra.

She noticed him watching and gave him a sexy, mischiveous smile. She leaned forward slightly, wearing nothing except her underpants, and he couldn't help it; his eyes were drawn to the smooth, pale whiteness of her breasts.

She lifted his chin with her hands and smiled again.

"This _is_ our wedding night... _dear_," she said huskily, and he smiled as well and pulled her onto his bed on top of him.

"I suppose," he replied, and she kissed him, her tongue darting in and out of his mouth. He moaned lightly as he felt the weight of her bare,unrestrained breasts on his chest and he reached a hand up and caught one of them. It was very warm and he felt his body react immediately.

"Mmm," she said, her voice muffled and she giggled lightly as he twisted under her, forcing her underneath him. They lay there for a moment, staring into each other's eyes and she smiled and reached for his thighs for the edge of his night shirt. He pulled it off for her and she stared for the firt time at his bare chest, hairless and pale.

"Not bad looking," she said quietly, and he saw in her mind that she was telling the truth. She squirmed on purpose, giving him a very mischiveous look. He thought he knew what was coming next.

She grabbed him below the waist and gave him a brief squeeze and he leant down and kissed her full on the mouth, hard and fierce, planting both his hands over her wrists so she couldn't move or tease him more. He kissed her more passionately, probing his tongue even deeper into her mouth and he felt her squirm and giggle. He had never heard her giggle, and it spurred him to kiss her harder. He didn't know why he loved it when she squirmed; he just did. It turned him on like her complimenting him hadn't.

"Sev-" she mumbled between breaths. He let her up slightly, and smirked down at her. He pretended to regain his composure, but he knew she felt him push against her waist. She took a hissing intake of breath and bared her teeth slightly. She took him by surprise when she latched her mouth back on his and kissed him furiously, simultaneously rubbing him down where he was most sensitive.

"Are you disappointed?" he asked her suddenly, and her whole mood changed. She looked thoughtful for a moment, then bit her lip.

"I wish they hadn't forced us into it, but I'm not sorry it was you," she admitted finally, and he smiled, grateful he had her.

"Now do me," she growled and he couldn't help but laugh at her straightforwardedness and the inexperience of her youth. It was obvious, however, that she had lost her virginity before he bedded her the first time. He didn't care, as long as he could have her for the rest of his life.

He moved his hands down her entire body and kissed her again. He barely noticed when she pushed his underpants down around his ankles. (He'd taken to wearing black after that day) He pushed hers off as they kissed and now they were both starkers.

He moaned slightly as he pushed his member up against her inner thigh; she was extremely warm and moist. She directed him to her and he thrusted again; this time, he made contact.

They made love for the first time as man and wife, and he had never had better. She yelped as she hit climax and at about the same time, his head seemed to explode. He got dizzy and saw stars and he yelled as he came, falling on top of her, gasping for air and shaking slightly. She was covered in a cold sweat and he himself was dripping in it. She was shaking all over and he got off of her, stumbling over his own discarded night shirt, and he climbed in next to her and draped an arm around her.

"You're shaking," she said simply, smiling at him and running a hand through his hair. He let her.

"So're you," he replied, and he kissed her again, slower this time and more passionate.

"Severus?" she said.

"Mmm?" he grunted, already getting drowsy.

"I'm glad it was you," she whispered, closing her own eyes.

He took some time to reflect a moment.

"So am I,"

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Well, what did you think? I was a bit nervous posting something this detailed... I thought I was gonna get in trouble, but I've seen some equally raunchy stuf and decided to hell with it. Please review!!


	14. Christmas holiday and sad desires

Hey, I'm just gonna wing it from here on in, cause the purpose of the marriage law challenge, to me at least, seemed to be to write a story about two magical beings being forced to get married for one reason or another and I've done that... now I have unofficial permission to wing it. Please review!!!!

p.s. I've heard several rumors about what Snape's middle name really is- some say it's Tobias, I heard one good friend of mine say it was Alexander... does anyone know for a fact? If so, please review or email me and let me know where I can read for myself!!!!

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Over the next few days, however, Severus felt his mood darken, despite the cheerful weather leading up to Christmas. The appearance of his father at his wedding was worrying. He knew, of course, why he had opted to come, although how he'd found out was a mystery. He had believed his mother, Eileen Prince, to be an evil witch that had seduced him into marrying her, but that wasn't at all true. Eeileen Prince had once been proud and headstrong, but marriage to his father had turned her into a downtrodden floormat good only for obeying orders, and she had died an early, avoidable death. He had never forgiven his father for his incessant torment.

He and Ran were sleeping together more often as the weeks progressed, and the weekend before the Christmas Holidays, he opted to bring her to his home. He had two homes; one he had blackmailed his worthless father into giving him the deed to, and another,much larger one with a house elf in it. It had been the childhood home of his mother when she was a girl.

The evening that the Holidays let out, Christmas Eve day, he brought his new bride to his home for the first time, and he couldn't help but think it was her home, now, too. If she wanted to move away from her home back in the States, that was. He led her up the familiar drive and just ahead, his house lay in wait.

He noticed Ran staring with her mouth open, and he supposed it as close to a mansion; it had a few turrets and three floors, plus an attic, and it was painted a pretty seashell pink color. The steps leading up to the front doors formed a circle and just on the front stoop stood his house elf, Slinky. He really didn't know how they thought up names for themselves.

"It's beautiful," she breathed, and he grasped her hand in appreciation.

"It was the house my mother grew up in," he replied, and he led her up to greet Slinky.

"Master Severus, Slinky has prepared master's bed chambers like he asked her to, sir!" she elf squeaked. She was dressed in a white linen toga and he could tell right away that Ran was intrigued. Of cours,e she had p robably never seen an elf before.

"What changes?" she asked him.

He smirked at her and pulled his hair out of his eyes.

"Just simple things, nothing to worry about," he said swiftly, and he opened the door with a lazy flick of his wand. They walked inside.

It was relatively simple on the inside; there was a staircase, of course, and highly burnished walls the color of burnt sienna. A door to their left led to the dining room, kitchen and living area and a door on the right led to the first floor bedrooms. Upstairs, Severus thought, were the closets and bathrooms, and a few other bedrooms, all furnished. The third floor was mostly unused space, and the attic was filled with treasures and things from his mother's ancestors.

"Oh my god,Severus... this place in _unbelievable_," she breathed, looking in all directions at once, eyes wide and curious.

"I am glad you like it," he said. He led her upstairs and into his own personal bed chambers, upon which he had inflicted his personality the moment the house was passed to him.

The walls were "papered" in black silk and there were bookshelves all around the walls. A single large chest of drawers stood on one wall and a door to the side of the enormous four post bed led into a spacious closet. The drapings on the bed were made of a dark green silk and the covers were black cotton. He knew she was into the goth metal music thing a lot of muggles were into so he had instructed Slinky, be owl, to change a few things around to her liking. He had the carpet, which was originally maroon, changed to a plush black and the pillows on her side of the bed transformed into black ones with the splashy red A that he now knew stood for anarchy. He had also sent a few of the posters from her classroom to the placef and had hing them surrepticiously beside her side.

"Oh my word..." she said, her mouth agape, and she grinned at him, her eyes sparkling.

"You like it?" he asked,smirking and knowing the answer.

"I love it," she said breathlessly and she took his hand.

Honestly, he was glad she liked it.

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That night, he couldn't sleep. He had gotten a letter from the ministry earlier about the procreation part of the marriage law; apparently, it was now required that a child be born within a year of said marriage, and another child born within a year of the first. He couldn't get it off his mind. It wasn't that he didn't like children; he neither liked nor disliked them.

He just wasn't sure if he was ready for them.

He lay there under his canopy, one arm flung under his head, the other laying languidly across his waist, and he listened to his young wife breath. He could tell she wasn't sleeping either.

"Knut for your thoughts,"she said, propping herself up on one elbow and looking down at him. Her hair was shorter when she slept, just past her shoulders, and it framed her face like a scarlet hood, draping down over his shoulder. She was beautiful in a simple knee-length night shirt. It didn't mean he missed the feeling of her warm, firm legs against his, though...

"I was thinking of the ministry's newest addition to the law," he muttered, refusing to look at her and instead looking out the window. It was a full moon and he knew Lupin would have been out and about, biting himself if he were still alive. He only looked over at her when she put her hand on his upper arm and by then her face was so close to his he could see the small gold flecks around her gray-green eyes.

"Nothing wrong with me in that department," she said softly, and he could tell that even though her expressiona and tone of voice were chipper enough, there was a glimmer of unease in her mind. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her upper body on top of his, just playing, and she rested her head on his shoulder, sending an enticing aroma of cider and tangerines into his face. He pressed her hair into his face and was lost in her once again.

"Wanna get started?" she breathed into his ears, and he got shivers all down his back. She kissed him provocatively and he only paused long enough to reach up and close the curtains with his wand so Slinky didn't peek in.

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The next morning brought a chipper little house elf carrying a tray ladden with eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice and blueberry muffins. Sunlight filtered through and Snape was glad for the darkened colors and the drawn bedcurtains.

"Slinky has brought Master and Mistress some breakfast, sir," she said and Snape could just make out her outline through the curtains of the bed. He looked down; he wasn't wearing anything.

"Leave it on the table beside the door. We'll eat when we are ready," he said groggily.

"Yes, sir," she said and he heard a clink as she set the tray down and left the room, the door closing with a soft snick.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, sitting up in bed. He looked down beside him; She was turned on her side, her hair mussed and her skin smooth as silk and pale as parchment. She wasn't wearing anything, either. He smiled, remembering lastnight. But he had work to do today.

He needed to make drafts and antidotes for his first and second year potion classes; an awful lot of them were taking Ran's classes for granted and exploding their potions on purpose, he suspected.

She shifted and mumbled something and turned to face him. Her breasts really were exquisite.

"Hey," she said quietly, squinting her eyes at the sunlight through the curtain. She covered herself with the sheet and sat up next to him.

"Morning," he said stiffly.

"Going to mix today? I heard a lot of them are exploding stuff on purpose," she said groggily, looking around for her wand. She spotted it on his side table, three feet away, stretched out her hand and said "accio." The wand soared into her hand and she then summoned her clothes from the floor.

While she got dressed, he went into the bathroom and splashed water on his face. He looked up into the mirror and didn't like what he saw. He was still pale, yes, but his black eyes were lightening... becoming dark brown. What the hell?

Was sleeping with a Metamorphmagus affecting his own body chemistry? It was unheard of and yet, his eyes remained black as death even when he was angry. Now they were turning brown. He decided to write a letter to the Department of Mysteries and ask. He just hoped Rookwood didn't get it.

He dried his face off and went into the bedroom to get dressed. He saw Ran, fully dressed, sneaking a few pieces of bacon off the tray Slinky had brought in.

"Help yourself," he said, making her jump. She began choking and he pointed his wand at her and said, "anapneo."

Her throat cleared and she coughed a few times, her eyes watering a bit. She turned to him, saw him smirking, and she giggled.

"Sorry," she said.

"Feel free to explore the house. No door is closed to you. Just let me work, please. Some of the potions they have yet to explode have tricky antidotes," he said, not unkindly.

"Sure," she said, and she wolfed down the last of her bacon without shame. He grabbed a muffin and a slice of toast and left the tray for Slinky to take care of.

"Can I go up to the attic?" she asked curously, glancing into his eyes. She must have noticed their color changing because she raised an eyebrow and took a step closer to him. She reached a hand up and gently put it at the back of his skull, and he leaned down slightly so she could look into his eyes on a level.

"Oh my god, they're changing," she said with the air of one commenting on the weather.

"I just noticed. You don't suppose it could be from sleeping with you, can it?" he said lightly, making it a half question.

"No, you have to be born a Metamorphmagus... I dunno why they're changing," she admitted and she let him go. He kissed her cheek before straightening up, and he swept out of the room to go down into the basement, where he kept all the necessary for his potion-making.

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_Ran's POV..._

He had said no door was closed to her.

She was standing on the landing leading up to what she supposed was the attic, her palms sweaty.

Finally, she set her mind to it and opened the door.

It was dark. She lit her wand tip and moved into the room. It was cavernous, but oddly shaped to allow for the turrets and the one tower. It was also filled with huge assortment of treasure.

She loved antiques. She found an old grandfather clock, stained with what looked like blood.

There was an ugly maniken wearing an even uglier, old fashioned summer dress. There was a balcony of sorts and she longed for clear air. She stepped out onto it and her jaw dropped. He hadn't told her what was in the back yard.

There was a small clearing before the trees started, and on the left side, shaded by an enormous Oak, was a small cemetary. It was bordered with a wrought iron fence. Opposite that, there was an enormous garden, unkempt and overgrown, but it suited the place. There were wild roses and tulips and an oddly large number of lilies. She smiled ruefully; he must have planted them himself. There was a murky green pond surrounded by pussy willows and boulders and where the grass was mowed, she saw a dirt path lined with pebbles. There was something else as well; just beyond the yard, set high up in a tree, was a fort of sorts. It looked like a tree house.

She turned around when she heard a footstep. It was Slinky.

"Master Snape said Mistress might be up here and he says to me to make sure you is comfortable. He says there is lots of old clothes up here, Mistress, if you's wanting to wear them," she said politely. She smiled.

"Sure, Slinky," she said and the little elf pointed a finger at a nearby trunk next to a dusty wardrobe. Its latched popped open, exhaling a cloud of dust. She kneeled down in front of it and saw, stacked on top of the numerous robes and clothing, several picture frames. She picked one up and rubbed the dust off it. It portrayed a sulky looking little girl with limp black hair, dark eyes and a pale face. Scribbled on the back in permanent ink was the name Eileen Prince, age 10. So this was Severus' mother... he looked a lot like her.

"It's a picture of Master's mother, Missress... he doesn't keep any pictures of her around anymore, Miss, no. Broke his heart when she died," said the house elf at her side.

"Could you get the dust out of the robes in that wardrobe, please Slinky?" she asked, pointing to the rack of clothes and robes beside the trunk. She didn't want commentary every time she lifted something out and dusted it off.

It must have been down in the elf's contract that she obey all family members, whether blood or by marriage, because the minute she said it, Slinky jumped to it.

She lifted out picture frame after picture frame, and they were all of Eileen Prince, from age 10 to age 30, it seemed. For a woman of 30, she thought the woman had looked older than she should. On the back of the last one, it said 'Eileen Prince, age 38, died February 10. Thank god she didn't live to see me kick him out of the house'. She chuckled at that and set the last picture aside.

Beneath all the frames were robes. Some were ancient, others only a few years old. She spotted sme that were blue and spangled, some that were bottle green and others that were child sized. She spotted some that were toddler'sized and spotted a name on the tag. "Severus Snape, age 3". She smiled and held them up.

They were dark grey and had a small tear in one of the sleeves near where his hand would have poked out. She supposed he had torn it playing or something like that.

She spotted something underneath all the robes, on the very bottom of the trunk. It smelled like mothballs, but she reached down for it anyway. It was a heavy gold locket.

She ran her fingernail into the groove along the side and it popped open, revealing a small, heart-shaped picture of Eileen holding a baby with black hair and her dark eyes. On the other side, the picture had been scored and slashed and marked so badly that she could just barely make out the fact that it was a picture of a man. She pocketed it and decided to ask Severus about it later.

She replaced everything in the trunk and stood up. Slinky had finished removing the dust from the rack of robes and she spotted a set that caught her eye immediately.

They were female robes and black, with long, bell sleeves and red trim. She lifted them out and saw that one sleeve was decorated with a silver serpent. She smiled. She woudl wear these.

She began stripping right there in the attic, not caring that the house elf stood and stared. She left her underclothes on, however.

She put the serpent robes on and straightened up.

"Is there a mirror in here?" she asked. Even as she finished speaking, she spotted a full length mirror right across from her. She stepped forward and gasped.

She was reflected, all right, but she was seven eyars old again, and surrounded by happy smiling people. There was her mother, nearly a decade younger and smiling, and the man next to her could only be her muggle father. Her brothers and sisters stood near her and they were all smiling, their arms around each other. It must be a Mirror of Desire.

"Lovely, miss," said Slinky from behind her, and she started and stepped back.

Ever since that awful day in her past, she had wished she had had a loving family who had cherished and loved her and taken care of her properly. That was her desire. She had had her hopes and dreams crushed so often by her own parents and her own kin that she hardly talked to them any more. And her sister... both her sisters looked down on her as a freak, because of something foolish she'd said, and now they would never forgive her and she missed them both so much... She had made so many mistakes.

Strangely hollow, she made her way downstairs and found the basement.

The walls were made of dark stone and were slightly damp. She shivered, and the robes she'd borrowed from hte attic suddenly felt warmer. She guessed they were enchanted to the wearer's body heat, warmer when cold and chillier when hot.

She decended, and landed on the bottom step.

Severus had his back to her, his billowing black robes fanning out on the floor behind him, pooling like a Lethifold's shadow. He was moving fast, droppping potion contents into a large, bubbling cauldron, stirring and flipping pages in a book, which floated in mid-air next to him. She didn't want to startle him and make him mess up his antidotes. Instead, she probed into the back of his mind using Legilimensy, and she put a picture of herself decending the stairs into it. He paused in his stirring.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, not turning around, and he continued to add ingredients.

She couldn't answer. The image of her happy, smiling family, the way it had never been, was haunting her still and she fought back the tears that threatened to come. He must have noticed her silence, because he turned around and saw her standing there with her head looking at her feet.

He abandoned his potion for a moment and just looked at her, trying to gleam something from her mind. She offered something to him, and he had to coax it slowly out of her... the mirror. That damn mirror in the attic. She must have seen into it, so why was she so miserable looking?

She took a few steps towards him and suddenly buried her face in his chest.

He took hold of her wrists and pried her away from him slightly so he could see her face. She certainly did look miserable.

"You saw into the mirror?" he said.

"I did... I saw my family standing around me, and we were all happy and stuff... but we were never like that," she said, on the verge of tears. This really wasn't the place for them. His potion was finished anyway; it had to simmer.

"Come," he said, and he pulled her closer and turned on the spot, feeling his way into nothingness.

He reappeared in the back garden, on a big rock near the green pond. It had been his mother's favorite spot as a girl.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a heart-shaped locket on a fine gold chain, and he took it from her without a word, sticking it into his own pocket. He had forgotten he'd put it up there.

He put an arm around her shoulder and noticed as he did so that she was wearing a set of his mother's old robes, although she probably didn't know it; he recognized ther silver serpent down the entirety of her left sleeve. She looked ok in them.

"Explain," he invited, and she reached up to his hand on her arm and gently picked it off.

"When we were kids, I said something to my sister I shouldn't have and I don't think she ever forgave me for it... I never meant to call her what I did... but before I coudl apologize, she;'d gone to live with her grandparents and they turned her against me. She calls me a freak. Just seeing all of us there, happy and together, made me realize how broken up my family really is..." she said bitterly, playing with a twig on the ground. Severus was forcibly reminded of what he had called Lily so long ago and what she told him. He'd had no idea.

So her heart's desire was for her family to be happy and together again? He wondered what she had told her sister that had left her unforgivable.

"We were out at the mall, me and my brothers and sister... she was wearing a belly shirt and low cut pants, and I just didn't wanna see her raped and kidnapped by someone there, so I called her...I called her a slutty dresser... I never meant to hurt her like that!" she said, and this time, she did cry.

"She never forgave me... never... and I miss her, we were never nice to her as kids... I regret everything..." she sobbed, and Severus, astonished to see her like this, held her close.

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Sorry for the abrupt end, but I just wanted to reveal more of Ran's character! Please review!


	15. Holidays, duels, shopping and a shock

Hey, this chapter is sure to be happier!! I borrowed the neverending sex potion or whatever he/she called it because it sounded cool, so the potion wasn't originally my idea, but I did rename it.

p.s. Was anyone wondering what the box was that Tobias Snape gave his son before stalking off at their wedding? Read on to find out!

Please review!! Kudos to my girl Rita, cause she rocks!

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Severus didn't question her about what she had seen in the mirror for the rest of the holidays. He also let her keep the old serpent robes; they were enchanted with a Temperature Charm and she looked fine in them anyway. His mother certainly didn't need them anymore, and they were only gathering dust.

He spent the next day mixing potions when he could have been out shopping for the very few people he Christmas shopped for. His father, (he had fun with this) and now Ran. He had no idea what to buy a woman. Maybe he'd get her something from Knockturn alley, he had an entire room devoted entirely to Dark artifacts, both cursed and not cursed. He thought he had something with spikes on it, if he could remember... but that didn't seem like a very nice Christmas gift. He would have to go out later.

He knew what he was going to give his father, though. A gallon of his favorite soda... with a devious new potion inside. Show him what bewitchment and entrapment really was. He was making an Unending Desire potion. With any luck, it would make his father so restlessly horny and driven with sexual desire, he wouldn't be able to stop. He grinned evilly as he stirred. The most enticing aroma was spilling out of his cauldron. It was a molten pink color and smelled like a combination of sex and flowers and spices. Another good thing, was he had added an ingredient to make it tasteless.

Every year, he got his father something malicious. Sometimes, they were funny (to him) things, other times it was rather mean, but he never regretted it.

He completed the evil little potion and poured an entire vial into the neck of the soda bottle, then capped it and let it settle. The soda within glowed momentarily pinkish-red, then returned to its original state. Now he had to put it somewhere where no one would get thirsty and accidentally drink it. (A/N: If I wanted to make this into a purely sexual story , and I easily could, I would elaborate more on the potion, but I won't)

He set it in a corner of the basement lab, on a small, spindly table that held nothing more than a replica of a human skull. He waved his wand and it was instantly wrapped in green Christmas paper.

He bottled and corked a beaker full of the pink potion and Vanished the rest, just in case of emergencies. You never knew when you would have to drive your enemies insane.

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That very same day, he left Ran to wander his home while he Apparated into Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade to do a bit of Christmas shopping. When he got back, it was to find Ran dueling with a masked assailant wielding both sword and knife. The sword had come from a wall, the copy of Godric Gryffindor's. Ran had her wand out, her hair long, thick and spiky red, her eyes pale silver and her face furious. She was holding her wand in a dueling stance.

He Vanished all his shopping to the kitchen and immediately jumped beside her, facing the masked man.

"Snape," he said coldly. He twirled the sword around, cutting the air with a vicous swipe, and then he fired without warning. He aimed a Stunning spell right at Ran, but she deflected it with the same modified Protego spell she had used on Mulciber. The masked man staggered, and Snape aimed his wand right between the man's masked eyes. Then he recognized the eyes and decided on a new spell.

"Depulso," he said coldly, and he shoved with his mind, wand and free hand.

Lucius Malfoy stumbled, his mask flew off and he fell on the floor, impaling himself on the sword. He gasped in surprise, his mouth wide open, and a spurt of dark scarlet blood burst from it like a jet. He had pierced his own heart and he lay gasping on the floor.

"No," he muttered. He had been aiming to send his mask off, but he had not meant to kill the man.

"Severus!" Ran cried, and she rushed to the fallen man's side and, with his help, heaved the heavier man off the blade. His back was wet with blood and the carpet beneath him was soaked.

"Stand back," Severus instructed, and he pointed his wand at Lucius Malfoy's wounds and began muttering the same flowing incantation he had used on Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter's sixth year. The wounds on the surface healed, but judging by the ammount of blood that was pouring from his mouth, there was no healing the deep slash in the man's heart. Lucius Malfoy would die.

"I need to send word to the ministry. Lucius Malfoy has been impaled on his own blade," he said quietly, standing up and staring down on the ground at the man who had befriended him in his first year. He never guessed it would end like this. Pathetic.

"But this is your sword," she said skeptically.

He waved his wand over the object in question and the jewels set into the hilt vanished as if they had never been there; he had cast a Glamour spell on it and it now looked nothing like the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

"Smart," she said, tilting her head to one side like a cat. She waved her wand and her Patronus appeared. He stared; it was enormous and silver bright. Then he realized what it was; it was a dragon. A frigging _dragon_ of all things. It soared off through the walls of the mansion with a nod of it's head and his eyes took some adjusting to get used to the dimmer lights of his home.

"Was that a Talking Patronus?" he asked lightly.

"Yeah. I just told it to tell the ministry that Lucius Malfoy has had an accident and is dead," she said, shrugging.

"What happened while I was gone?" he asked.

"I was exploring, and I found the library. It is absolutely amazing, I love it... some of those books are very... different. Anyway, I came down here looking for a bathroom and he burst through the door smooth as anything and demanded my head, pretty much," she explained. Severus rubbed his temples wearily and Apparated into his living area, which was dimly lit and covered in wall to wall bookshelves.

"In here," he called into the next room, and a moment later, Ran Apparated with a loud crack right where he had just been. She took a seat next to him and he accio'd a particular book off one of the shelves. It was a book on Potionmaking, and he normally read it when he needed to clear his mind when he didn't feel like applying Occlumency.

"Can I read with you?" she asked. Neither of them mentioned the deadf man in the next room over, and, it seemed, neither one of them cared. It was as if it had never happened, and he gloried in the fact that she seemed to be as nonchalant and flippant as he was when it came to certain moral values.

"Feel free," he said, and heheard her accio another book off a different shelf, and he noticed the title out of the corner of his eye. It was his only book on muggles and unlike a lot of trash his ex-death eaters would read on the subject, it was well written and factual.

They read in silence.

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The Ministry came hours later to collect the body of Malfoy Sr and to ask them what had happened, and Ran lied for him; it turned out she was very good. She made it sound as if Lucius Malfoy had been an invited guest and had taken out the sword, swung it around a few times, been startled and fell on it. They accepted her versions of things and left, floating the body ahead of them.

"That was pathetic, I could have done much better," he teased, his face straight. She smiled and gave him a playfull shove.

"Could not," she retorted, and before he could answer, she Apparated away.

He followed her trail of magic and discovered her in their bedroom, lying on her side and dressed in another knee-length nightshirt. Her eyes had gone from silver to a cloudy green and he hair had been pulled back into a sloppy, spiky mess. It siuted her, oddly enough.

"Tired?" he asked.

"No. Just laying here. I don't feel very good," she said.

Struck by a sudden inspiration, he pointed his wand at her back and said in his head, _Homenum revelio. _

The light on the end of his wand glowed and flashed a light shade of purple and he dropped it on the floor. It made a clattering noise and rolled away under the bed. He doubted she even knew yet, and the reason for her discomfort was obvious.

Ran was pregnant.

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He couldn't sleep that Christmas Eve.

Ran lay curled up against his chest, her hair giving off its faint scent of tangerines and lemon, and one arm draped around his waist.

Patterned moonbeams fell in shadows across the covers from the moon outside, and he heard a wolf howl in the distance. Probably Lupin, he thought, smirking to himself.

She was pregnant. He wondered how long it had taken, cursing himself inwardly for doing it so soon after the wedding. She was half his age! What would people say? He would be 60 by the time the child was ready to attend Hogwarts! He should have had her take a contraceptive potion or something. Or he could have worn a condom. He hated them, though, but then remembered that taking the contraceptive potion was no picnic either. There just seemed to be no likeable way for either sex to prevent having children and that was the way it had been for years.

She mumbled something in her sleep and shifted and he looked down at her, ready to wake her so she could change positions if she hit him or something, but she just buried her face deeper into his side and slept on, her warm breath fluttering against his skin. He only wore a pair of pajama bottoms and a thin under-shirt.

He rolled over and fell into an uneasy sleep.

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The next morning, he came across a small, wrapped box while getting dressed. Ran was still sleeping peacefully, and he was not inclined to wake her up on a holiday.

It was the box his father had given to him on his wedding day before he had stalked off and he wasn't so sure, given the gifts he had sent him, if he should open it or not.

He undid the ribbon and opened the lid.

Inside was what looked like every photo of his mother his father had ever owned, small trinkets he had probably kept of hers, the pieces of her broken wand, and the strangest, most out of character thing of all; a small, knit blue baby bonnet. He saw the initials S.S. on the inside. It had been his.

He sighed and finished dressing, setting the box and its contents on the dresser to ponder later.

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It was a fun evening, even with only three people in attendance, for after making the dinner of Chirstmas turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, squash, pumpkin and chocolate pie, mashed potatoes and corn, he had dismissed Slinky from her usual duties to join in relaxing with Severus and Ran. She happily joined them in a few rounds of Exploding Snap. (the cards he had from his own Hogwarts years were faded and torn)

He pulled a few wizard crackers with the both of them and received a pointed green and black wizards hat, a pack of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum that he would never chew, a real, live kitten and a tube of black lip stick.

He gladly gave the kitten to Ran. He waved his wand and a bowed ribbon appeared around its neck and waved it again and a small card was attached.

"Consider it a late Christmas present," he said teasingly, and she jumped on him, knocking him to the floor in a bone-crushing hug. The orange and yellow tabby kitten looked on in curiosity.

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Well, what did you think?? Please please please p lease review!!!!


	16. She knows

Hey, sorry it's taken me forever, but my partner in evil has been away for awhile, and I'm currently ghostwriting another story where said evil pertner in evil and I kidnap Snape and force him to do... stuff... Check out the bio of Felonusangel, it's called "trouble brewing" if you're interested, and please, as always, review...Anyways ::coughcough:: On with it!!

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!

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Their return to Hogwarts went unnoticed, and Snape almost hated the fact that he wasn't allowed to simply quit his teaching job to stay home with his new wife longer.

"What's your problem?" Ran kept asking him, as they walked into the great hall. He kept staring at her stomach, wondering if their child was growing even as they walked.

She must have gotten something from his mind, because she stopped in the middle of the Great Hall, which was mercifully empty for the moment, and her mouth dropped.

"I'm... pregnant??" she gasped, still shocked.

Snape, figuring he may as well do the thing right, wrapped her into a hug and stroked her head.

"I only found out Christmas Eve or so. I didn't want to surprise you, but you and your Legilimensy..." he teased, smirking, and she rolled her eyes.

"Bit late for the surprise part... I wonder..." she trailed off.

"When it was, exactly?" Snape guessed, raising one pertinent eyebrow.

"Yeah," she admitted shyly.

"As to that, my _dear_, it could have been anytime," he teased once again, and they both continued to the Staff Table, to await the arrival of the students.

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That night, as they both lay in his four poster, listening to the ccrickets and the owl from outside, she asked him the strangest question of them all.

"What do you want to name it?"

Snape sat up in bed and stared down at his wife as she lay there in the moonlight. She was staring back at him, waiting for an answer.

"I don't really know. It would depend on what you are having," he replied, glancing again at her smooth, flat (for now) midriff.

"I like... Snarfy for a boy," she said suddenly, and for a moment, he wondered if she had gone mad.

Then she burst out giggling madly and he realized she had been joking.

"I do NOT like Snarfy for a boy," he said firmly, and she giggled harder at that.

"I was kidding," she said lightly, her voice still laughing.

She rolled over in bed, tangling the crisp, cool sheets and put one slim, pale arm over his waist.

She buried her head in his collarbone and nuzzled up under his chin.

"I like your name," she said finally.

"I ... we will see," he said. Truthfully, he sort of liked his name, too, but he did not want to brand any son of his with the name of a father who had done so much wrong and made so many mistakes in life; he did not want any child of his to emmulate _him_.

They slept.

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Sorry it's so short, but I've been busy all day... I now officially live in a camper with only 20 watts of electricity. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!


	17. Fastforward, because the author is lazy

Hey, I've fastforwarded this one a bit. As I'm wont to do, because I'm lazy.

PLEASE REVIEW!

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Very soon, too soon for him, the fact that the Explosives professor was pregnant by the Defense professor spread through the school like wildfire. It was unfortunate that no one took into account the fact that they were married.

She didn't start to show visibly until the school term had almost ended.

It was May and the students had began studying for their exams, when on a routine night, while they were dressing for bed, he noticed she looked fatter than she usually did. No ammount of Metamorphosing could change the fact that she was obviously with child. Her stomach area around her navel bulged slightly, as if she had gained a few pounds.

"Come here a moment," he beckoned her, and she frowned slightly as she traced the bulging area with one slender forefinger.

She walked over to him wearing naut but her underwear and stood over him. He was laying on the bed.

He traced one of his own slender fingers over the area and marveled at how her marble-white skin could feel so warm when it looked so cold. He felt the slight bulge; it was not fat.

She smiled nervously down at him and he carefully pulled her onto the bed.

"Sev, I don't really feel -"

He cut her off with a kiss.

She stiffened a bit, but a hand on her back made her relax into his embrace and she kissed him back.

They made out there on the bed for what seemed forever, and in his opinion, forever wouldn't be long enough. He wanted it to stay that way until the end of time.

When they finally broke apart, she smiled down at him and nibbled the skin on the side of his neck, right under his jaw. Chills ran up and down his spine, half tickled, half aroused, and he suppressed a moan and fought the urge to take her right there. He would never tell anyone, but his neck was his one and only turn-on point and she knew it.

"You suck," was all she said before he could fight the urge no more.

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The next few weeks drove a wedge between them, as both were teachers and had lessons to teach and exams to hold.

Severus couldn't believe it when more than half his Defense class passed their exams at N.E.W.T. level with "Exceeds Expectations". It seemed they weren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as he had at first assumed.

They didn't see each other outside of bed at all, in fact, until it was time for the students to go back home and all the teachers stood on the threshhold of the castle to see them all off.

He was glaring over the tops of their heads, wishing they would all go home faster, when he felt a warm hand slip into his, and he knew by the familiar spicy, fruity scent of her shampoo that it was Ran.

"I missed you," she said in his ear, and he smirked. He bet she had. They had both ben going to sleep imediately as of late because after all their classes, neither one of them felt like being romantic.

It was for this reason that he never realised how much she was showing as of June the 16. She was in her sixth month and her stomach had seemed to baloon in size by three,four, five times; she now resembled a thin woman trying to smuggle several basketballs under her shirts. The effect would have been comical if he had had the guts to tell her; she had been rather moody lately.

They arrived in Spinners end the very next day, and Severus couldn't believe it; he was home again, childhood memories be damned. He had three whole months to be alone with his pregnant wife, and hopefully, their child would be born before next term started. She was truly enormous. He almost couldn't believe she had grown so much in only a matter of weeks.

"So this was where you grew up," she stated bluntly, looking around curiously. Severus took her cloak and hung it on the rack behind the door with a wave of his wand.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, his voice quiet.

"Peachy," she said sarcastically.

He made an impatient noise in his throat but said nothing.

"So... I was thinking... about different names..." she said.

"Names again?" he replied suavely.

"I still like yours, but it'd get confusing after awhile," she admitted.

"Too right it would," he agreed readily, leading her to the hidden kitchen.

The kitchen was drab indeed, and dimly lit. Ran raised her wand, muttered a spell, and several floating candles appeared out of nowhere.

"Thank you," he said politely, and he raised his own wand and summoned food out of the cupboards. He handed her the saltines and a flask of pumpkin juice from the fridge and he took only a few biscuits and a mug of cold milk.

He retired to his bedroom for a change of robes and he left her in the sitting room to ponder some of his books. He had some very interesting ones he knew she'd like.

He closed his door and looked around. He liked it here more than his mansion that was his mother's childhood home. It was cozier, even if it was the scene of so many childhood fights and squablles.

His bedroom was dark and he turned the lights on with a flick of his wand. He had a four post bed with green hangings, his floor was carpeted in bright red (his father's doing, but the color had grown on him) and a beareu took up one wall. He rummaged around in this until he found a decent muggle t-shirt (black, AC/DC) and a pair of very black trousers. He felt odd to be dressed in such a way, but it was more comfortable to sit, without having to adjust the gathers in his robes.

He went back downstairs and sat opposite his wife in the sitting room. She had dispensed with her robes as well and was dressed very similar to him, only her t shirt ssaid Dimmu Borgir and her trousers were a bit baggier to allow for her huge stomach. She really _was_ going to have his child, he could hardly believe it. Inside that womb lay his almost-formed unborn baby.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, smiling, peering up at him from the book she was reading. She saw his shirt and changed tactics.

"You like AC/DC?"

"I do, as a matter of fact," he admitted coyly, and he pulled a book off a shelf and began to read as well.

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He had a very odd dream that night.

He dreamed that he and Ran were in St Mungo's, or some sort of hispital anyway, and she was in labor. She gave birth and their child was-

He sat up, bathed in a cold sweat, and glanced beside him. By the look of the mound that kept rising and falling beside him, she had not yet given birth, so they had nothing to worry about.

He shook his head a bit, still breathing hard, his heart not yet slowed. Whatever their baby had looked like in his dream, it had woken him up. He hoped it meant nothing, but then, he was never one to ponder his dreams so long.

He rolled back over and went to sleep.

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Well, sorry, but I started this a while ago, I just never finished it and forgot about it. Sorry!! Please review!!!!!


	18. July attack and Long September

Back away from transit chappies!! Here's the real deal!! PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!!! Or I'll sick my Sanity sucking penguins of doom on you and unleash my new character's Schmobites!!! They're evil I say. INTRODUCING FELLOW FANFIC WRITER, JOSCHMO666 NEW CHARACTER!!

So REVIEW!!

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Their summer break were spent mainly grading and correcting papers, or otherwise sitting on the roof and enjoying glass after glass of cold, iced pineapple juice. Ran had been having cravings for the stuff for weeks, so Snape had gone to a nearby muggle shopping place and bought several cases of the stuff.

It was July that she ran out. She drank a lot and was always thirsty. She seemed to be getting even bigger and had had to enlarge a few of her school robes several sizes just to allow for her distended belly.

"Can you go out and get some more, please, Severus?" she asked him one weekend, as she was sitting in a chair and reading yet another book from his library. It was a book full of usefull (in some cases) Dark spells and he wondered why she was reading it. He himself had created a lot of them.

"I shall be attended to, Ran," he said softly. He needed to get out of the house, anyway. They were out of his favorite food (tuna) as well.

He pulled on a muggle jacket, black jean, looking quite odd, in his opinion, and pocketed his wand, and he left.

_Ran's pov_

Ran tucked her hair behind her ear and continued reading. She had just touched upon one spell that she thought she might use if she was ever confronted with another death eater. It was a spell to rearrange a victim's internal organs without breaking the skin, and it sounded grisly.

She was just wondering if she would like to get to her feet and go into the bedroom to take a nap, when the door crashed open again and she looked up and saw a hulking man sillhouetted there.

She rocked herself to her feet, her belly as was usual of late, obscuring anything below her belly button, and took her wand off the side table.

"Who are you?" she demanded, pointing it in the stranger's face. She caught the unmistakable scent of sweat and blood and dirt and the man stepped into the light and she saw a bearded, filthy face, wild brown eyes, matted, tangled hair and robes stretched over his heavily muscled skin. His nails were long and yellowed, and dried blood crusted his mouth.

"Hello, _sweetie_," he growled, and only one word registered in Ran's mind. _Werewolf._

Get. Out. Of this house," she said coldly, pointing her wand in his face and very much aware that she was carrying a child. She must have looked ridiculous, trying to hold off a werewolf with naut but a wand, her belly preceeding her.

"Macnair didn't like what you did to him in Hogsmeade, he didn't. So I'm here to repay the favor. Ooo... I _like_ kids..." he trailed off, his yellow-brown eyes fixed firmly on her stomach.

"Never," Ran muttered, scared for the first time. Where on earth was Severus?

She didn't care about her pineapple juice, or the Statute of Secrecy. She summoned her Patronus and sent it to her husband with a warning and the time it took for her to do it cost her dearly.

The werewolf attacked, sending her sprawling ingto the spindly coffee table. She hit hard, her breath getting knocked out of her, and she was left helpless on the floor, gasping for breath. The weight of the child inside her made it even harder.

A few seconds later, Severus Apparated in with a loud CRACK and he joined the fray.

"Se--hev..." she tried yelling, but she still had not got her breath back.

"Fenrir!" Severus yelled, and the fighting stopped momentarily.

"Snapey, the ex-death eater... Dumbledore's pet isn't looking so good, is he? Scared, are you?" Fenrir growled.

"Yes," said Severus abruptly.

"For the lives of my wife and unborn child, anyway. Of you, I'm not so sure," he finished, and he expelled Fenrir with a bang from his wand. The werewolf suddenly had slashes and blood all over him, and Ran managed to mutter an inaudible spell from her fallen wand that lifted the bleeding man into the air and thrust him out of the house.

Severus shut the door, repaired the hinges, placed new wards on the outside, and then knelt by her side, his hair falling in his face and concern in his black eyes.

"Are you alright? Did he bite you?" he asked worriedly. A fallen pack of pineapple juice and a few cans of tuna lay spilt near the door and she guessed he had been almost done shopping anyway.

"Don't... think... so... I'm ok... Just out of breath..." she wheezed, and he helped her into a sitting position.

She sat there breathing for a few minutes, and when she thought she had her wind back, she spoke again.

"Felt like a turtle that couldn't get up. Had to send my Patronus after you, or Junior here would have died," she said, gesturing to her belly. Snape found the turtle joke a bit humorous, but not the one about their child.

He handed her one of the cans of pineapple juice from the floor and Vanished the rest into the kitchen.

She popped it open and drank gratefully.

"Thank you, Severus," she said, smiling weakly. She set the can down and heaved herself to her feet so she could hug her husband.

He held her like that for what seemed like an hour before he kissed her forehead and held her face in his hands. It was a romantic gesture he didn't often use, in fact, never before. Her skin was smooth but clammy and her eyes were large and green today, but she still seemed tired.

"Go upstairs and sleep, Ran. I'll bring you up something when I can," he said quietly, and she leaned in and kissed him on the mouth. He tangled his hands in her thick, silky hair, but made himself pull away. He had a couple letters to write.

"I'll be upstairs, then," she said, and without one more word, she waddled off.

_Snape's POV_

Severus was shaken.

He had never expected Fenrir Greyback to pay HIM a visit. And he had threatened his child. _His_ child!

He pulled parchment and quill to him and began writing a well-worded letter to the Ministry of Magic.

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When he was finished, he got up and went into the kitchen to make ghimself a plate of tuna sandwhiches and grabbed a can of Ran's pineapple juice.

He brouight the plate upstairs and found her lying down in bed, on her side, seemingly asleep.

He gently set the plate down, helped himself to a couple, left the drink, and went back downstairs.

That _damn_ werewolf better not mess with them again, or it would be _his _guts.

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September came too fast for both of them. Before they knew it, it was second day of term at Hogwarts.

Neither had forgotten Fenrir's visit, and the Ministry had promised to send out a search party for the werewolf. Not that their promises ever meant much, but it was at least a comfort to know they were going to go back to being safe at Hogwarts. Ran was now in month 9. Any day now.

_Ran's POV_

The welcoming feast in the Great Hall was the best ever. She couldn't push her chair in all the way, but that was nothing. She was beginning to feel sick again, but she ate something, for the baby's sake.

She still couldn't believe she was going to be a mother. She was married, pregnant, poor, 20 and in a different country. It was obvious she was American. How the hell was she going to do this?

She had her first class for the day that very morning. The dungeons were chilly and she wore one of her thick winter cloaks to stave off the cold.

"Good morning class," she said, by way of greeting, and a few kids muttered hellos. It was a double class today, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. At least it wasn't Gryffindors and Slytherins, that would have been an absolute nightmare.

"Take a book, and let's get started. What would happen if I were to add powdered root of Asphodel to-" she stopped because a student had raised his hand.

"Yes?" she said.

"Sorry, Professor, but I was wondering what sleeping with our Potions professor was really like?" sneered the fifth year Slytherin boy, and Ran, taken off guard, glared at him, smiled coldly and turned her back to write instructions on the board with her wand.

"Detention, Vaisley. 8 o' clock, my office, tomorrow night. That's none of your business and is totally off topic," she said clearly.

"Cow," she heard him mutter from behind her back, and she spun around as fast as she could and chucked her marker at his head.

"Ten points from Slytherin, boy, and if I hear one more word, It'll be-" she stopped suddenly as a monstrous cramp flared up in her gut.

"Owooo..." she groaned, her face a mask of discomfort.

"Professor Halliwell? Are you alright?" asked a fourth year Hufflepuff girl. She had long black hair, dark eyes rimmed in eyeliner and pale skin and looked sort of gothic.

"You prat, Vaisley, stop making things so difficult for her!" scolded another fifth year Hufflepuff.

"Get... someone get Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape. Hurry," ordered Ran, and she clutched her stomach as another craped ripped through her midsection. Her water broke, right there in front of her entire class, and she knew; the baby was coming. She was going into labor.

"I'll get them, professor," said a fourth year Slytherin that hd taken a suympathy towards her favorite teacher's wife, and she dashed off throug hte open door and vanished.

"Oh muy god, she peed herself!" squealed a fifth year Hufflepuff, and she was reprimanded by an older student.

"It's what happens when you have a baby, you dolt. Someone go get Professor Snape!" she barked, and Ran heard someone run out of the classroom.

"Class dismissed!" she managed to choke out, and she waited until they had all packed their things and left before sitting in her chair. It would need to be replaced.

Only a couple students had remained behind. The gothic fourth year Hufflepuff and a fourth year Slytherin girl.

"Can we get you anything, Professor?" asked the Slytherin.

"No... Severus... get Severus," she grunted as a fresh cramp overtook her. She heard the Slytherin girl rush out to join her classmate in doing just that and now she was alone with the gothic fourth year Hufflepuff, Myers, her name was.

"What's your name?" Ran grunted through a wave of pain from another cramp.

"Mine? Joanna Myers, but everyone calls me Jo," she replied, dropping her school bag. She came forward and put a comforting arm around her teacher and Ran tried to get her breathing under control; panic was setting in. She wasn't _ready_ for this at all!

"It'll be alright, professor," she said uncertainly,

At that moment, Professors Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey and Slughorn barged into the classroom, and Jo Myers was shunted aside as a stretcher was conjured out of nowhere and Flitwick gently floated Ran onto it.

"Ran!" said Severus urgently. He was at her head in a moment, stroking her hair out of her face.

"Come, Severus! She needs to get to the hospital wing immediately! You can fuss over her there!" scolded Madam Pomfrey. Severus backed off and ordered the fourth year Hufflepuff girl to clear off.

"Yes, professor Snape," said Jo Myers, and she grabbed her book and bag and led the way out of the classroom, closely follwed by Flitwick (floating the stretcher with his wand), McGonagall and Slughorn. Why he had come in the first place was a complete mystery.

The fourth year led the way to the infirmary, and the moment they all stepped foot (or stretcher) into the room, Pomfrey waved a wand and several things happened at once; a set of curtains gathered themselves around a bed near the window, a pan of water appeared at the foot, a small table slid over to blockade the end of the bed and a pile of thick fluffy towells appeared next to the water.

Flitwick lifted the pregnant teacher onto the infirmary bed and Madam Pomfrey transfigured her robes into a hospital gown with an open back.

"Females only, if you don't mind," snapped Madam Pomfrey, and a taken aback Professor Snape simply sat himself on the edge of a neighboring bed. The fourth year Hufflepuff was shunted off by Professors Slughorn and Flitwick and McGonagall took Ran's hand.

"Ran, meanwhile, had had enough of people fussing over her. Of all things, she wanted her elderly, half-senile mother.

"Someone send letters to my brothers, Lance and Shan Halliwell,... aaaaaaa!" she gasped as something different gripped her this time, forcing pressure on her hips. Great, now contractions.

This was a nightmare!

_Snape's POV_

Severus sat on the edge of a neighboring cot and merely watched the silhouettes through the curtains and listened to his wife scream and cry and swear.

FLASHBACK

He was about ready to put instructions on the board for his third year Defense class, when two out of breath Slytherins burst into the classroom, yelling about Professor Halliwell.

"What is this? What are you two doing out of class?" he snapped.

"Sir, it's Professor Halliwell, she's having the baby!" they both cried out of sync, and he had automatically quickened. He took one glance at the class, wild eyed, said, "class canceled, pack your things and get out."

BACK TO PRESENT

Severus couldn't believe it.

"AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" A terrible bloodcurdling scream rupped through the Hospital wing and at that moment, several students filed into the infirmary, some bearing flowers, a couple others bearing boxes of candy, obviously for their stricken teacher. New traveled fast at Hogwarts, it seemed. Well, at least he could be of _some_ help.

He got to his feet, his robes swirling, and held his arms out so no student caught a glimpse of his wife in pain.

"Bloody hell..." muttered a few when they heard her scream.

"What are you all doing here? You should all be in class," he said, as if he didn't know why they weren't in class.

"Professor McGonagall and Slughorn said classes had been canceled the rest of the day because of Professor Halliwell, sir," said one timid looking first year Gryffindor girl.

He figured there was nothing for it. He may as well let them leave their gifts of candy and lace and what ever else they could get their hands on.

He sat on the cot again. He was not one to have mental breakdowns, but this was a big moment, even for him. The Dark Lord's downfall seemed nothing compared to this.

"Once more, Ran!" he heard Professor McGonagall urge from behind the curtain.

"Aaaaaarrr..." came Ran's reply, and Madam Pomfrey's silhouette suddenly moved and raised a wand.

"Goodness, it's a boy!" he heard her exclaim, and her shadow lifted something small and they all heard a thin cry. Ran's breathing was irregular.

There was a smattering of applause from behind Snape, and he heard Mconagall's sharp voice carry from behind the curtain.

"Severus, get the students out of here! Tell them to go back to their dormitories immediately!"

Severus stood once more, turned and addressed the students behind him.

"You heard her. Get. Now!" he demanded, and they all left what gifts they had on a free bed and scrambled.

Severus pulled the curtains back and knelt on the other side of Ran's head. Her skin was paler than usual and clammy, her eyes cloudy green, her hair a burnt dark brown color. There were small blood splatters on the lower end of the sheet that covered her, but by the looks of it, Madam Pomfrey was mopping her up and fixing her as best she could.

"Congratulations, Severus," said McGonagall, looking up at him.

She was smiling.

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Sort of long, but please review!!!!!!!!!!!!


	19. Wormtail

Hey, new chapter update, and sorry it took so damn long, but anyway, free brownies to whoever reviews first!!!

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"Yaxley,"

"Get up, Wormtail," said the cold voice. Its owner gripped his stolen wand tighter and glared daggers at the small, cowering man before him.

"Yaxley, the traitor, Severus Snape has had the child. They haven't yet named it, but-"

"I told you, Womrtail, the child must be named before we can go after it. You never could do anything all the way. _Crucio!"_

Wormtail lay writhing on the ground, twitching in pain, and the man who had stepped forward when the Dark Lord died lifted the curse.

"Go back and do not return until you have learned of the child's name. Without the name, the potion is useless. Go!"

Sobbing and shaking, Womrtail transformed and vanished into the night.

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Severus stayed in the hospital wing with Ran that night, the baby sleeping soundly on his mother's breast. They hadn't named him yet and Severus couldn't sleep. He was a father. He still couldn't believe it.

Just so long as he turned out a better father than _his_, he thought he would do alright.

He looked at his wife, sleeping peacefully, and the child that was theirs. It had a head full of thick, tufted black hair with odd little red streaks in it. He smiled. So the child was a Metamorphmagus like his mother.

The boy's body had been clothed in a tiny black robe and he was wrapped in a thick, warm blanket.

Severus Snape rolled over in the bed and closed his eyes. He was so distracted he never noticed the filthy, disheveled rat in the far corner, watching everything.

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When he awoke the next morning, it was to find his wife and newborn child gone. Poppy came over to him with a couple potions and handed them to him.

"She's gone down to your quarters and is waiting for you there. Take these. They're for her for later. She is to take one of each withe very meal," she said, and Severus recognized a few of the potions she gave him. Blood replenishing, strength replenishing, healing potions. These would serve her well, he thought.

He got out of the bed, rmade it with a wave of his wand and straightened his robes and hair. He tucked the potions safely inside his robes and headed for his personal quarters.

He enterd without knocking, to find Ran with no shirt or under clothes on, suckling the newborn.

"Severus," said Ran.

"How has he been?" he asked her, gesturing to the newborn boy. He still wore the tiny little robes that had been shrunk, but his hair had turned a blinding shade of green, seemingly to match the little pillow in the corner of the couch his mother sat on.

"Looks like his mother, huh?" asked Ran, and Severus thought he knew what she meant. Now that the child's eyes were open, they were an almost red shade of brown, bright and alert, and he had his nose, but the rest was all Ran.

"How are you?" he asked, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm alright. A little weak, but I'll survive. My brothers are coming later today, to see me and... the baby. Sev, what are we going to name him?"

Severus didn't answer. At that moment, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. A very famililar looking rat...

"Hush, luv," he said sharply, and he raised his wand high and fired a well-thought out curse at the scurrying animal.

There was a sharp squeal, a flash of light, a bang, and Peter Pettigrew lay on the floor, cowering.

"Pettigrew!" Snape gasped, glaring at the man with as much hhatred as he could muster. Ran made an extremely disgusted nouise and hurried to cover herself up, holding the baby close to her chest, revolted.

The disheveled man lay on the floor of Snape's personal quarters, and before he could do anything, Snape grabbed him bu the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet.

"What are you doing here, Wormtail?" he asked slowly, letting the hatred in his voice out. He despised this man almost as surely as he despised himself sometimes and certainly as much as he had despised James Potter.

"Like I'd tell you," siad Wormtail, sneering, and Snape stuck the tip of his wand in Pettigrew's fleshy neck.

"Give me a reason," he challenged him, and Pettigrew showed a faint trace of fear, but not enough.

"Go to hell, Snape," he spat, and Snape flung him from his person so hard, he ran into the stone wall and fell on the floor once more.

"Get into the bedroom with the baby and get dressed, Ran. We're taking this worthless pice of filth to the Headmistress," said Snape, his wand on Pettigrew.

Ran moved to obey, and Snape sneered Wormtail down.

"Transform, Pettigrew, and I will make you wish I had killed you," he said in his softest, deadliest voice.

Ran came out a second later wearing her robes and carrying the baby on her hip, one hand on his bottom, the other on the back of his head.

Snape bound Wormtail with Anti-Animagi ropes and Levicorpus'd him out of his quarters and towards Dumbledore's old office. Behind him, he heard Ran shushing the baby in gentle hushed tones.

By the time they all rached McGonagall's new office, Wormtail was purple in the face and swearing obscenely.

"Not around the baby, you," said Ran coldly upon entering the ofice, and she Silenced him with a flick of her silver Fir wand. Wormtail continued to move his mouth furiously, but no sound came out.

"Severus, Ran, what is the meaning of this? Who is this man?" asked McGonagall urgently, as she ran down the stpes from her personal quarters.

"Peter Pettigrew. I believe this means Hagrid's name is officially cleared and he can re-purchase a wand," said Snape, and indeed, at his words, McGonagall's eyes got very wide and her mouth dropped.

"Pettigrew? But Sirius Black said Pettigrew had escaped!" she cried. She remembered Sirius's story from when they were both members in the Order during the second war.

"He was spying on us in my chambers, Minerva," said Severus.

"Well, I shall write the Minister, I think Dawlish has taken over temporarily... yes, the Ministry must be informed at once... perhaps the death penalty... but I musn't get my hopes up," said McGonagall, and Snape had to smile. Apparently, she hated Wormtail for what he had caused Lily, James and so many others as much as he himself did.

She took the bound man from them both and as they turned to go, Ran handed the child to hm. Severus held his first born son for the first time.

"I've thought of a name... it's Irish, but I like it," she said as they decended the stone stairs.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Aodhan," she replied.

Severus stopped in his steps. Aodhan. The Gaelic form of Aidan. He liked it.

"Aodhan Lance Snape," said Ran.

"For my brother," she said at her husband's blank look.

"As they both walked back to their quarters, neither one of them knew just how lucky it was that Wormtail had failed in his plans, or how luicky it was that Severus had seen him sulking in the shadows.

Luck. It seemed they were all lucky. They were, after all, alive.

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Hope you liked it!!! Sorry it's been so long, but I've had other stuff on my kind lately... PLEASE REVIEW!!! I AM STARVING FOR THEM AND IT MAKES ME UPDATE FASTER!!!!!


	20. NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Hey, sorry I haven't updated any of my HP stuff lately. I just got a new job, working retail and tis the season (although not ho ho ho). I've also recently been locked out of the computer until someone gets home, because my stepdad is a prick, so there's that as well. I've also been working on my pokemon fic, called "life is wonderful", so you may want to check it out, because Im really on a roll with it. So sorry I haven't showed lately, but meh... I've been busy lately. Ciao!


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